Sabal Trust CO Sells 247 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Sabal Trust CO trimmed its holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,051 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 247 shares during the period. Sabal Trust CO’s holdings in Shell were worth $254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in Shell by 930.2% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in Shell in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Human Investing LLC acquired a new position in Shell during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Shell in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Shell during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SHEL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler decreased 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. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Shell presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $79.11.

Shell Price Performance

Shell stock opened at $67.49 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $205.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $65.09 and its 200 day moving average is $66.70. 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 plc has a one year low of $60.15 and a one year high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. As a group, research analysts expect that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.716 dividend. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Shell’s payout ratio is presently 56.97%.

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.