Flputnam Investment Management Co. Reduces Stock Holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. cut its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 17.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,919 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 1,434 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Shell were worth $433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SHEL. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Shell by 5.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 65,298,943 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $4,306,465,000 after buying an additional 3,255,347 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Shell by 2.1% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,530,647 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,617,796,000 after purchasing an additional 507,311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Shell by 41.0% during the 3rd quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP now owns 1,544,764 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $101,877,000 after buying an additional 449,000 shares in the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shell Trading Down 1.4 %

Shell stock opened at $66.49 on Tuesday. Shell plc has a one year low of $60.15 and a one year high of $74.61. The business’s fifty day moving average is $65.49 and its 200 day moving average is $66.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $202.22 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced 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 return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 4.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley raised Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Shell presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.11.

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.