Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases New Stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,463,946 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $91,716,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SHEL. FMR LLC boosted its position in Shell by 5.2% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Shell by 188.0% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,014,199 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $198,786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,967,672 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its position in Shell by 29.8% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 3,773,617 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $248,870,000 after purchasing an additional 866,954 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Shell by 2.1% during 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 position in Shell by 41.0% during the third quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP now owns 1,544,764 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $101,877,000 after purchasing an additional 449,000 shares in the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shell Stock Performance

Shell stock opened at $66.80 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.31, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $65.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.38. Shell plc has a 52 week low of $60.15 and a 52 week high of $74.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.716 per share. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Shell’s payout ratio is 56.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SHEL. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wolfe Research raised Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group raised Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target 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.