Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Stake Boosted by Todd Asset Management LLC

Todd Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,214,321 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 14,225 shares during the quarter. Shell makes up about 1.8% of Todd Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Todd Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Shell were worth $76,077,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in Shell by 5.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 65,298,943 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,306,465,000 after purchasing an additional 3,255,347 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Shell by 2.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Shell by 0.9% during the 3rd 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. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Shell by 8.7% during the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 5,282,868 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $348,405,000 after buying an additional 422,329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Shell by 29.8% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 3,773,617 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $248,870,000 after buying an additional 866,954 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SHEL has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price 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 assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.11.

Shell Stock Performance

Shell stock opened at $66.90 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $203.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. 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 $64.99 and a 200-day moving average of $66.73.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced its 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%. On average, analysts expect that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.97%.

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.