Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Holdings Lowered by Portland Global Advisors LLC

Portland Global Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,535 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 2,730 shares during the quarter. Portland Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Shell were worth $1,224,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Palogic Value Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Shell by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. now owns 75,602 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,736,000 after buying an additional 15,120 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Shell in the 4th quarter valued at about $92,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in Shell by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 94,441 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $5,917,000 after buying an additional 8,815 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Shell by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 22,591 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after acquiring an additional 1,087 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Shell by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,322 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $408,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Shell from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Shell from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.10.

Shell Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of SHEL opened at $72.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $219.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. Shell plc has a 1 year low of $60.15 and a 1 year high of $74.61. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.42.

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

Shell Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.716 per share. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Shell’s payout ratio is currently 56.97%.

Shell Profile

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.