Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR (NYSE:SHEL)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR (NYSE:SHEL) by 4.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,715 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 1,104 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $1,811,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Shell by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 86,417,177 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $5,414,036,000 after buying an additional 21,118,234 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Shell by 170.3% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 3,463,372 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $216,980,000 after purchasing an additional 2,182,253 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Shell in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $91,716,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Shell in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $83,204,000. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP increased its holdings in Shell by 46.5% in the fourth quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP now owns 2,262,997 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $141,777,000 after buying an additional 718,233 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SHEL shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Shell from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 5th. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Shell from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Shell from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Shell presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $78.26.

Shell Stock Performance

NYSE SHEL opened at $72.34 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR has a 52-week low of $58.55 and a 52-week high of $74.46. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $66.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.30. The firm has a market cap of $215.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.39.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced 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 return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 4.75%. The company had revenue of $69.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.18 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.40 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Friday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $3.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the energy company to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.716 dividend. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Shell’s payout ratio is 65.90%.

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.