Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 5,870,000 shares, a drop of 18.0% from the November 15th total of 7,160,000 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,500,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.3 days.

Shell Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of SHEL traded down $1.28 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $62.26. 2,751,589 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,198,187. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.09. The company has a market cap of $191.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.07, a PEG ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 0.55. Shell has a 52 week low of $60.34 and a 52 week high of $74.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Shell Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.688 per share. This represents a $2.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.58%.

Institutional Trading of Shell

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SHEL. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,255,347 shares in the last quarter. Empyrean Capital Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the second quarter valued at about $151,578,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Shell by 188.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,014,199 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $198,786,000 after buying an additional 1,967,672 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP grew its holdings in Shell by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 3,773,617 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $248,870,000 after buying an additional 866,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in Shell by 65.7% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,698,247 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $122,579,000 after purchasing an additional 673,624 shares during the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on SHEL shares. Citigroup raised Shell to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Shell from $88.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Shell from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays raised Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.75.

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.