Wedbush Securities Inc. Has $1.14 Million Stock Holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 12.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,111 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 1,986 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $1,135,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $91,716,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Shell by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,938,735 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,562,412,000 after acquiring an additional 408,088 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of Shell by 236.4% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 445,422 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $27,906,000 after purchasing an additional 313,018 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Shell by 16,663.4% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 307,440 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $19,261,000 after buying an additional 305,606 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Shell by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,982,817 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $500,123,000 after acquiring an additional 238,705 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on SHEL. TD Securities boosted their price target on shares of Shell from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Shell from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.10.

Shell Price Performance

Shares of SHEL stock opened at $64.13 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $68.12 and its 200-day moving average is $66.52. 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 plc has a 52 week low of $58.92 and a 52 week high of $74.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $193.92 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.27.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. Equities research analysts expect that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.716 dividend. This is a boost 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 was Friday, February 14th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.