Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Short Interest Update

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,210,000 shares, a growth of 62.6% from the February 28th total of 5,050,000 shares. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 4,330,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Shell from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Shell from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group upgraded Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Shell presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $80.10.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. DSG Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter valued at about $331,000. Northstar Financial Companies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter valued at $483,000. Palogic Value Management L.P. increased its holdings in Shell by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. now owns 75,602 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,736,000 after purchasing an additional 15,120 shares during the period. Probity Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Shell by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 7,435 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $466,000 after buying an additional 1,026 shares during the period. Finally, Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter valued at about $262,000. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Shell Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SHEL traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $72.98. 3,786,600 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,167,887. Shell has a 1-year low of $60.15 and a 1-year high of $74.61. The company has a market cap of $220.67 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.42.

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

Shell Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.716 dividend. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.97%.

About Shell

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.