First Eagle Investment Management LLC Buys 67,371 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 16.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 487,840 shares of the energy company’s stock after acquiring an additional 67,371 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Shell were worth $30,563,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Shell by 930.2% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Human Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Shell during the third quarter valued at $33,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Shell during the third quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Shell during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. 28.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.11.

Shell Stock Performance

NYSE:SHEL opened at $67.78 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Shell plc has a 12-month low of $60.15 and a 12-month high of $74.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $66.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. Equities research analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.23%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.97%.

About Shell

Shell plc operates as an energy and petrochemical company Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, the United States, and Rest of the Americas. The company operates through Integrated Gas, Upstream, Marketing, Chemicals and Products, and Renewables and Energy Solutions segments. It explores for and extracts crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids; markets and transports oil and gas; produces gas-to-liquids fuels and other products; and operates upstream and midstream infrastructure to deliver gas to market.