Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Shares Sold by SouthState Corp

SouthState Corp lowered its holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 81,681 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 4,764 shares during the period. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Shell were worth $5,117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Shell by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 189,310 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $11,860,000 after acquiring an additional 3,533 shares during the last quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN lifted its stake in Shell by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 4,818 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 635 shares during the last quarter. one8zero8 LLC purchased a new position in Shell in the fourth quarter worth approximately $207,000. Choate Investment Advisors lifted its stake in Shell by 119.0% in the fourth quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 7,500 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $470,000 after acquiring an additional 4,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Shell by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investment Management LLC now owns 31,298 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,961,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Stock Up 1.5 %

SHEL stock opened at $68.78 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $66.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.21. Shell plc has a 12 month low of $60.15 and a 12 month high of $74.61. The company has a market cap of $209.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.716 dividend. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Shell’s payout ratio is currently 56.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SHEL. 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 note on Thursday, December 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded 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 report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group upgraded 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 boosted their price objective for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.11.

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.