Leuthold Group LLC Decreases Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Leuthold Group LLC lessened its position in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 107,860 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 4,778 shares during the quarter. Leuthold Group LLC’s holdings in Shell were worth $7,113,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in Shell by 21.0% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 44,896 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $3,009,000 after buying an additional 7,779 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in Shell by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 292,587 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $21,119,000 after purchasing an additional 29,677 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Shell by 65.7% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,698,247 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $122,579,000 after purchasing an additional 673,624 shares during the last quarter. Foresight Global Investors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Shell during the second quarter worth about $1,472,000. Finally, Norden Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Shell by 2,843.4% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 170,867 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $11,455,000 after buying an additional 165,062 shares during the period. 28.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shell Trading Down 2.6 %

NYSE:SHEL opened at $65.13 on Monday. Shell plc has a one year low of $60.34 and a one year high of $74.61. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market cap of $205.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.56.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The energy company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $75.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.62 billion. Shell had a net margin of 5.97% and a return on equity of 14.56%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.50 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Shell plc will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $0.688 per share. This represents a $2.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SHEL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Shell from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays upgraded Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Shell to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Shell to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.00.

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.