National Bank of Canada FI Increases Stock Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 236.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 445,422 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 313,018 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Shell were worth $27,906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Shell by 930.2% in 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 during the period. CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Shell during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Human Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Shell during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Shell in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC increased its stake in Shell by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 600 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Stock Performance

Shell stock opened at $72.78 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $220.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $68.08 and a 200-day moving average of $66.55. 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 52 week low of $60.15 and a 52 week high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last issued its 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 net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. On average, analysts expect that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.716 per share. This is a positive change from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.94%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is 56.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SHEL. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Shell from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Piper Sandler dropped 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. UBS Group upgraded shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Shell from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $80.10.

Shell Company 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.