Merit Financial Group LLC Takes Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,740 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $360,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SHEL. Procyon Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Shell by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 5,074 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Shell by 40.8% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 563 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Doliver Advisors LP grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Shell by 2.5% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,889 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $520,000 after buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Shell by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC now owns 53,514 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $3,353,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Price Performance

Shares of Shell stock opened at $65.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Shell plc has a one year low of $60.15 and a one year high of $74.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.62.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $72.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.58 billion. Shell had a net margin of 5.17% and a return on equity of 14.54%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.86 EPS. Analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

Shell Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.688 dividend. This represents a $2.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised shares of Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Shell from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $79.69.

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.