Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Shares Sold by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC cut its stake in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 723,534 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 5,250 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Shell were worth $45,329,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Foster Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Shell by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 3,393 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $213,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. Warther Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Shell by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,268 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $205,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the period. Klingman & Associates LLC grew its stake in Shell by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 3,421 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $214,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. RHS Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Shell by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. RHS Financial LLC now owns 5,667 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Doliver Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Shell by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Doliver Advisors LP now owns 3,632 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $228,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. 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. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Shell from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Shell from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Shell presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $80.10.

Shell Price Performance

Shares of SHEL opened at $73.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $221.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.61, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. Shell plc has a 52 week low of $60.15 and a 52 week high of $74.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $67.56 and a 200-day moving average of $66.38.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.716 per share. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.97%.

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.