Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 658,852 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 4,725 shares during the quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $41,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Shell by 930.2% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Shell during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in Shell during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Shell during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. 28.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shell Stock Performance

Shares of SHEL stock opened at $66.16 on Monday. Shell plc has a 1 year low of $58.55 and a 1 year high of $74.61. The stock has a market cap of $199.01 billion, a PE ratio of 13.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $66.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.30. Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. The business had revenue of $69.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.716 dividend. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.90%.

Shell announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $3.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the energy company to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Shell from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Shell from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Shell from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Shell has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $77.35.

Shell Company 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.