Eastern Bank Takes Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Eastern Bank bought a new position in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 9,551 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $630,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SHEL. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Shell by 0.9% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 56,076 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $3,698,000 after acquiring an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Shell by 25.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 45,025 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,969,000 after purchasing an additional 9,094 shares during the period. U S Global Investors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Shell during the third quarter worth $660,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Shell by 18.3% in the third quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,142 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 641 shares during the period. Finally, Ledyard National Bank grew its holdings in Shell by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ledyard National Bank now owns 6,138 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 686 shares during the period. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shell Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:SHEL opened at $66.53 on Thursday. Shell plc has a one year low of $60.34 and a one year high of $74.61. The company has a market cap of $207.05 billion, a PE ratio of 11.88, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $68.87 and a 200-day moving average of $70.79.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The energy company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.15. Shell had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 5.97%. The company had revenue of $75.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Shell plc will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.688 per share. This represents a $2.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Shell’s payout ratio is currently 49.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays upgraded Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Shell from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Shell from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Shell to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $82.00.

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.