Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Short Interest Update

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 5,870,000 shares, a decrease of 18.0% from the November 15th total of 7,160,000 shares. Approximately 0.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,500,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.3 days.

Shell Stock Performance

Shares of SHEL traded down $0.46 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $63.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,470,658 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,204,738. Shell has a one year low of $60.34 and a one year high of $74.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $196.68 billion, a PE ratio of 13.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $66.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.13.

Shell Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.688 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.33%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is 56.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SHEL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Shell from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup upgraded Shell to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Shell from $88.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL lifted its position in Shell by 11.2% in the third quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 11,078 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $731,000 after purchasing an additional 1,113 shares during the period. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. lifted its position in Shell by 26.9% in the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 52,439 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $3,458,000 after purchasing an additional 11,105 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Shell by 0.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,972,945 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $408,430,000 after acquiring an additional 55,637 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its stake in Shell by 1.7% during the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 67,647 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $4,460,000 after acquiring an additional 1,152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp raised its stake in Shell by 23.7% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 105,674 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $6,969,000 after acquiring an additional 20,241 shares in the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.