Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. Cuts Stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 22,931 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $1,437,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in Shell by 930.2% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in Shell in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Shell in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on SHEL shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. Finally, TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Shell from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.48.

Shell Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of Shell stock opened at $71.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $214.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $67.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.26. Shell plc has a fifty-two week low of $60.15 and a fifty-two week high of $74.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 EPS 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, 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 announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.03%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is 56.97%.

Shell Company 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.