Employees Retirement System of Texas Cuts Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Employees Retirement System of Texas reduced its position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 52,710 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 11,800 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Shell were worth $33,023,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in Shell by 930.2% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Shell in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Human Investing LLC bought a new position in Shell in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC lifted its position in Shell by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 600 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on SHEL. TD Cowen started coverage on Shell in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Shell from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.10.

Shell Price Performance

SHEL opened at $64.13 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $193.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.78, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.27. Shell plc has a 52-week low of $58.92 and a 52-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 business has a fifty day moving average of $68.12 and a 200 day moving average of $66.52.

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

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.716 dividend. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is 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.