Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Lowers Holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. trimmed its holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 139,443 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 783 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $8,736,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $27,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the third quarter worth $33,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Shell Stock Performance

Shares of SHEL stock opened at $67.78 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $66.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.32. The stock has a market cap of $206.13 billion, a PE ratio of 13.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. 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 quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its quarterly 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share 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 $0.716 dividend. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.23%. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Shell’s payout ratio is 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.