D.A. Davidson & CO. Raises Stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 179,412 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 9,903 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Shell were worth $11,240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SHEL. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Shell by 5.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 65,298,943 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,306,465,000 after purchasing an additional 3,255,347 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Shell by 188.0% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,014,199 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $198,786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,967,672 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Shell by 29.8% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 3,773,617 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $248,870,000 after purchasing an additional 866,954 shares during the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new stake in Shell during the third quarter valued at about $37,274,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Shell by 2.1% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,530,647 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,617,796,000 after purchasing an additional 507,311 shares during the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shell Stock Up 1.1 %

SHEL stock opened at $67.87 on Wednesday. Shell plc has a 1-year low of $60.15 and a 1-year high of $74.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company’s 50 day moving average is $64.61 and its 200 day moving average is $66.85. The stock has a market cap of $207.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 EPS 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Shell plc will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SHEL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.11.

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.