Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Shares Sold by Trust Co. of Vermont

Trust Co. of Vermont lessened its holdings in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,178 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 726 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Shell were worth $604,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SHEL. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Shell by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,871,131 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,504,920,000 after purchasing an additional 477,432 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Shell by 4.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,356,191 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $602,352,000 after acquiring an additional 384,967 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Shell by 10.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,742,878 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $562,866,000 after acquiring an additional 848,104 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Shell by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,173,651 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $406,226,000 after acquiring an additional 143,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Shell by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 5,325,276 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $350,403,000 after acquiring an additional 885,069 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Securities increased their target price on Shell from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Shell from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Argus increased their target price on Shell from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.50.

Shell Stock Performance

NYSE:SHEL traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $69.15. 881,707 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,392,543. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.15. Shell plc has a 52 week low of $58.14 and a 52 week high of $74.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.60.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.51. Shell had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 5.83%. The firm had revenue of $74.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.03 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 8.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.688 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.