HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 31,950 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 431,847 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 31,950 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Shell were worth $27,055,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SHEL. Foster Group Inc. increased its stake in Shell by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 3,393 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $213,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Shell by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,268 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $205,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the period. Klingman & Associates LLC lifted its position in Shell by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 3,421 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $214,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. RHS Financial LLC increased its position in Shell by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. RHS Financial LLC now owns 5,667 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Doliver Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Shell by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Doliver Advisors LP now owns 3,632 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $228,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Shell Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:SHEL opened at $68.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $209.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.29. 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 plc has a one year low of $60.15 and a one year high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. Equities analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.716 per share. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Shell’s payout ratio is 56.97%.

Shell 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.