Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV Raises Stock Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its position in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 8.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,477 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV’s holdings in Shell were worth $218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the 3rd quarter worth $121,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the third quarter worth $207,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Shell by 45.4% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 16,181 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,067,000 after buying an additional 5,050 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Shell by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 21,851 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in Shell by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 22,468 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,482,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Shell Stock Up 1.1 %

SHEL opened at $67.87 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.52, 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 one year low of $60.15 and a one year high of $74.61. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.85.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. Analysts anticipate that Shell plc will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.716 dividend. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.22%. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.78%.

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.