First Foundation Advisors Reduces Stock Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

First Foundation Advisors lowered its stake in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 8.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,246 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 709 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors’ holdings in Shell were worth $486,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GM Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Shell by 5.8% in the first quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 22,556 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231 shares during the period. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Shell in the first quarter worth $736,000. Forum Financial Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Shell by 6.4% in the first quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 32,458 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,176,000 after purchasing an additional 1,939 shares during the period. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Shell by 4.2% in the first quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 21,131 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,417,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the period. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Shell by 5.3% in the first quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 58,908 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $3,949,000 after purchasing an additional 2,977 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:SHEL traded down $1.00 on Friday, reaching $72.25. 3,878,567 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,906,658. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.35. Shell plc has a 52 week low of $59.51 and a 52 week high of $74.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $74.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.03 billion. Shell had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 13.83%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Shell plc will post 8.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $0.688 per share. This is a positive change from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Shell in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Shell from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Shell from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Argus increased their target price on Shell from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, TD Securities increased their target price on Shell from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Shell has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.