First Horizon Advisors Inc. Cuts Holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,359 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 374 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $747,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in Shell in the third quarter valued at $26,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Shell during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Shell by 84.4% in the fourth quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 413 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Shell by 217.7% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 413 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Shell during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SHEL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Shell from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Shell from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Shell from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.50.

Shell Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SHEL opened at $72.37 on Friday. Shell plc has a 12 month low of $55.78 and a 12 month high of $73.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $232.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.59. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The energy company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $80.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.59 billion. Shell had a return on equity of 13.78% and a net margin of 5.83%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.76 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 8.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $0.688 dividend. This represents a $2.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is 50.74%.

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.