Principal Securities Inc. Increases Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 18.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,288 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,331 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $1,334,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Foster Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Shell by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 3,393 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Shell by 40.8% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 563 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Shell by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,268 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $205,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. RHS Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Shell by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. RHS Financial LLC now owns 5,667 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Doliver Advisors LP grew its stake in Shell by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Doliver Advisors LP now owns 3,632 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shell Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:SHEL opened at $67.87 on Wednesday. Shell plc has a fifty-two week low of $60.15 and a fifty-two week high of $74.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $207.50 billion, a PE ratio of 13.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $64.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.85.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share (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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Shell plc will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.716 dividend. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Shell’s payout ratio is currently 54.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research raised shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group raised Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus 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.