Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. Boosts Holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. boosted its holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 266.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 122,030 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 88,700 shares during the period. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Shell were worth $7,645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Shell by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 65,298,943 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $4,306,465,000 after purchasing an additional 3,255,347 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Shell by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,530,647 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,617,796,000 after acquiring an additional 507,311 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Shell by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,972,945 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $408,430,000 after acquiring an additional 55,637 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Shell by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 5,282,868 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $348,405,000 after purchasing an additional 422,329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP raised its position in Shell by 29.8% in 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SHEL. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Shell from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price 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. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.11.

Shell Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SHEL opened at $66.66 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.80 billion, a PE ratio of 13.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.57 and a beta of 0.54. Shell plc has a fifty-two week low of $60.15 and a fifty-two week high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.716 per share. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.78%.

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.