United Community Bank Buys 139 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

United Community Bank grew its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 4.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,315 shares of the energy company’s stock after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the quarter. United Community Bank’s holdings in Shell were worth $222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SHEL. Marcum Wealth LLC boosted its position in Shell by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 4,223 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $283,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in Shell by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,907 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $191,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its position in Shell by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 3,918 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC boosted its position in Shell by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 6,815 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Founders Capital Management boosted its position in Shell by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 830 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on SHEL. TD Securities increased their price objective on Shell from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Shell from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on Shell from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Shell presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.25.

Shell Stock Performance

SHEL traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $72.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 735,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,294,408. Shell plc has a 52 week low of $59.51 and a 52 week high of $74.61. The company’s 50-day moving average is $71.53 and its 200-day moving average is $67.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.42. The firm has a market cap of $230.13 billion, a PE ratio of 13.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.59.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.51. Shell had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 5.83%. The company had revenue of $74.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.03 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 8.55 EPS for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a $0.688 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This is a positive change from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.74%.

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.