First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Buys 775 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 24.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,921 shares of the energy company’s stock after acquiring an additional 775 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Shell were worth $246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Shell in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Shell in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Shell in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in Shell in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on SHEL shares. Citigroup raised Shell to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Shell from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Shell from $87.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.69.

Shell Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Shell stock opened at $64.61 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $64.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.44. Shell plc has a 1 year low of $60.15 and a 1 year high of $74.61. The company has a market capitalization of $197.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.29, a PEG ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $72.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.58 billion. Shell had a net margin of 5.17% and a return on equity of 14.54%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.86 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.688 per share. This represents a $2.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Shell’s payout ratio is currently 56.58%.

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.