Shell (NYSE:SHEL) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) saw strong trading volume on Wednesday . 1,698,207 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 63% from the previous session’s volume of 4,613,659 shares.The stock last traded at $63.91 and had previously closed at $64.07.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Shell from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 21st. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Shell from $75.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Shell from 28.00 to 27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $1,992.17.

Shell Trading Up 2.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $220.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.99, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $61.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The energy company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.09). Shell had a return on equity of 17.65% and a net margin of 7.94%. The company had revenue of $76.02 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.04 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, August 11th will be issued a $0.662 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 10th. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. This represents a $2.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.05%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.40%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC acquired a new position in Shell during the first quarter worth $25,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Shell during the second quarter worth $30,000. Corrado Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. America First Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Shell during the first quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Shell during the first quarter worth $32,000. 9.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 necessary to deliver gas to market.