Dearborn Partners LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Dearborn Partners LLC reduced its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 36.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,085 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 4,596 shares during the quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings in Shell were worth $542,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SHEL. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Shell by 7.1% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 622,675 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $40,088,000 after buying an additional 41,460 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in Shell by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 7,822 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in Shell during the fourth quarter worth $511,000. Rise Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Shell by 84.4% during the fourth quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 413 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Shell by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 12,755 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $838,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shell Trading Up 0.7 %

Shell stock traded up $0.49 during trading on Thursday, hitting $73.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,037,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,219,844. The stock has a market capitalization of $233.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $71.61 and its 200 day moving average is $68.26. Shell plc has a 1-year low of $59.51 and a 1-year high of $74.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.42.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $74.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.03 billion. Shell had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 5.83%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Shell plc will post 8.57 EPS for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $0.688 per share. This represents a $2.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Shell’s payout ratio is 50.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Shell from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. Argus boosted their price target on Shell from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. TD Securities boosted their price target on Shell from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Shell in a report on Thursday. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.40.

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.