Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Shares Purchased by Golden State Equity Partners

Golden State Equity Partners raised its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 19.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,389 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 542 shares during the quarter. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in Shell were worth $212,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Shell in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Shell by 40.8% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 563 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Shell by 567.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 627 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares in the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shell Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of SHEL opened at $66.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $203.80 billion, a PE ratio of 13.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.57 and a beta of 0.54. The company’s fifty day moving average is $64.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.19. Shell plc has a fifty-two week low of $60.15 and a fifty-two week high of $74.61. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. Analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 positive change 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.30%. Shell’s payout ratio is presently 54.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SHEL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group raised shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of 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 lowered their target price on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.11.

Shell 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.