Equitable Trust Co. Acquires Shares of 15,970 Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Equitable Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 15,970 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,001,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Shell by 51.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,463 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $468,000 after buying an additional 2,545 shares during the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its position in shares of Shell by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 3,741 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. HF Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Shell by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 29,560 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,852,000 after purchasing an additional 4,028 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Shell by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 3,125,284 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $206,116,000 after purchasing an additional 46,293 shares during the period. Finally, Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Shell by 266.1% during the 4th quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 122,030 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $7,645,000 after purchasing an additional 88,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Shell Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE SHEL opened at $66.13 on Tuesday. Shell plc has a 12-month low of $60.15 and a 12-month high of $74.61. The company has a market capitalization of $202.19 billion, a PE ratio of 13.17, 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 current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $64.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.07.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Shell plc will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.716 dividend. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Shell’s payout ratio is currently 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.