Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 4,683 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 84,913 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 4,683 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $5,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Shell by 930.2% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Shell during the third quarter worth $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in Shell during the third quarter worth $33,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Shell in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Shell by 40.8% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 563 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group upgraded Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.11.

Shell Stock Performance

Shares of SHEL opened at $67.34 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.35. Shell plc has a 52-week low of $60.15 and a 52-week high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. Research analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.716 per share. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.25%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is 54.78%.

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.