D.A. Davidson & CO. Grows Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 179,412 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,903 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Shell were worth $11,240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SHEL. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Shell by 930.2% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Shell in the third quarter worth $30,000. Human Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Shell in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new stake in Shell in the third quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Shell in the third quarter worth $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Shell Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SHEL opened at $67.87 on Wednesday. Shell plc has a 1-year low of $60.15 and a 1-year high of $74.61. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $64.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.85. The company has a market capitalization of $207.50 billion, a PE ratio of 13.52, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Shell plc will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.78%.

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.