Asio Capital LLC Cuts Stock Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Asio Capital LLC lessened its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 26.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 36,415 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 12,801 shares during the quarter. Asio Capital LLC’s holdings in Shell were worth $2,668,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SHEL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Shell by 51.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,463 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $468,000 after acquiring an additional 2,545 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Shell by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 33,168 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,078,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Shell by 136.2% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,824 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $490,000 after purchasing an additional 4,512 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Shell by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 199,856 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $12,521,000 after purchasing an additional 14,937 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Americana Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Shell by 373.2% in the fourth quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 235,467 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $14,752,000 after buying an additional 185,711 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Price Performance

SHEL stock opened at $72.49 on Friday. Shell plc has a 52-week low of $58.55 and a 52-week high of $74.46. The business has a fifty day moving average of $65.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.06. The stock has a market cap of $216.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $69.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.18 billion. Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $3.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the energy company to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.716 per share. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Shell’s payout ratio is 65.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Shell from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Shell presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.26.

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.