Bridgewater Associates LP Grows Stock Holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Bridgewater Associates LP increased its position in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 523.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 831,000 shares of the energy company’s stock after acquiring an additional 697,806 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Shell were worth $52,062,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. 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 note on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen lowered 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. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Shell from $87.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.73.

Shell Stock Performance

NYSE SHEL opened at $62.42 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $67.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.18. 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 firm has a market cap of $188.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.27. Shell plc has a 52-week low of $58.55 and a 52-week high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.716 per share. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.59%. This is a positive change from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Shell’s payout ratio is 56.97%.

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.