Bank of America Corp DE Sells 98,289 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Bank of America Corp DE cut its holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,904,444 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 98,289 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 0.29% of Shell worth $557,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SHEL. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Shell by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 10,493 shares of the energy company's stock worth $657,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Shell by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 567,552 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $35,552,000 after buying an additional 123,487 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Shell by 90.9% in the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,521 shares of the energy company's stock worth $910,000 after buying an additional 6,915 shares during the last quarter. Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Shell during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Shell by 37.6% in the fourth quarter. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 13,309 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $834,000 after acquiring an additional 3,636 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company's stock.

Shell Trading Down 2.3 %

SHEL stock opened at $65.11 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Shell plc has a 52-week low of $58.55 and a 52-week high of $74.61. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $66.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.88. The firm has a market cap of $195.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.30. Shell had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. The company had revenue of $69.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.18 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $3.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the energy company to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Shell Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.40%. Shell's dividend payout ratio is currently 65.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on SHEL. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Shell from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Shell from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Shell from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group raised shares of Shell from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $77.35.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.