Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR $SHEL Shares Purchased by American Century Companies Inc.

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. boosted its investment in Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR by 6.1%, acquiring an additional 54,471 shares in the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to approximately $69.7 million.
• Analyst ratings for Shell vary, with five analysts rating it as a hold and ten as a buy, resulting in an average consensus target price of $78.39.
• Shell recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.716 per share, equating to an annualized yield of 4.0%, with a payout ratio of 64.41%.

American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 951,625 shares of the energy company's stock after purchasing an additional 54,471 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.'s holdings in Shell were worth $69,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in Shell during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Avalon Trust Co bought a new stake in Shell during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. raised its holdings in Shell by 103.4% in the first quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 356 shares of the energy company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Shell in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SHEL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Shell from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Shell from $80.00 to $79.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Shell from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Melius Research assumed coverage on Shell in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a "hold" rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Finally, HSBC restated a "hold" rating and set a $78.30 target price (down from $78.90) on shares of Shell in a report on Monday, August 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Shell has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $76.71.

Shell Trading Up 1.1%

SHEL traded up $0.8270 on Friday, hitting $73.3170. The company had a trading volume of 2,424,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,661,234. Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR has a 1 year low of $58.54 and a 1 year high of $74.18. The firm has a market cap of $215.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.51, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.44. The company's fifty day moving average price is $71.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The energy company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $66.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $69.31 billion. Shell had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 10.67%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Shell Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.716 per share. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Shell's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.41%.

Shell 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.