Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Sells 8,499 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 6.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 129,839 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 8,499 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $8,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Team Hewins LLC bought a new position in Shell during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $769,000. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in Shell by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 10,532 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 1,348 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Global Investments LLC grew its holdings in Shell by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Global Investments LLC now owns 2,417,326 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $159,060,000 after purchasing an additional 304,871 shares during the period. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. bought a new position in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter worth about $22,628,000. Finally, Pingora Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,306,000. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on SHEL. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Shell from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Shell from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Shell from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.25.

Shell Price Performance

SHEL stock opened at $72.94 on Thursday. Shell plc has a one year low of $59.51 and a one year high of $74.61. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $71.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.01. 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 company has a market capitalization of $231.92 billion, a PE ratio of 13.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.59.

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

Shell Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a $0.688 dividend. This represents a $2.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. 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%.

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.