Sapient Capital LLC Buys New Holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 538,296 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,420,000. Shell comprises 0.9% of Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SHEL. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in Shell by 150.5% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 10,743 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $732,000 after buying an additional 6,455 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in Shell by 8.8% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 333,583 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $21,476,000 after purchasing an additional 26,960 shares during the last quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Shell by 31.7% in the 3rd quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,189 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Shell by 21.9% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 995,786 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $64,109,000 after purchasing an additional 178,741 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Shell by 11.4% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 340,523 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $21,923,000 after acquiring an additional 34,850 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on SHEL. TD Securities upped their target price on Shell from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Shell from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Shell from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.50.

Shell Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of SHEL stock traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $72.37. The stock had a trading volume of 4,407,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,739,239. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $68.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $232.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.59. Shell plc has a 12-month low of $55.78 and a 12-month high of $73.94.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The energy company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $80.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.59 billion. Shell had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 13.78%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Shell plc will post 8.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $0.688 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.80%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.