Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Shares Acquired by Choate Investment Advisors

Choate Investment Advisors grew its position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 119.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,500 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,076 shares during the quarter. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Shell were worth $470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC raised its stake in Shell by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 65,298,943 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $4,306,465,000 after acquiring an additional 3,255,347 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Shell by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,938,735 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,562,412,000 after acquiring an additional 408,088 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Shell by 0.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,972,945 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $408,430,000 after purchasing an additional 55,637 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in Shell by 8.7% in the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 5,282,868 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $348,405,000 after purchasing an additional 422,329 shares during the period. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in Shell by 29.8% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 3,773,617 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $248,870,000 after purchasing an additional 866,954 shares during the period. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shell Stock Up 1.9 %

SHEL stock opened at $70.11 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $213.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. Shell plc has a 52 week low of $60.15 and a 52 week high of $74.61. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $66.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. On average, research analysts expect that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.09%. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Shell’s payout ratio is presently 56.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group raised shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. One investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.11.

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.