Employees Retirement System of Texas Sells 11,800 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Employees Retirement System of Texas lessened its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) by 18.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,710 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 11,800 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Shell were worth $3,302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Shell by 930.2% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Shell in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Human Investing LLC bought a new stake in Shell during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. 28.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SHEL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Shell from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. TD Securities reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Shell in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Shell to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $78.35.

Shell Price Performance

NYSE:SHEL traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $66.24. The company had a trading volume of 3,432,138 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,297,326. The company has a market capitalization of $197.98 billion, a PE ratio of 13.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38. 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 $74.46. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $66.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.81.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $69.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $79.18 billion. Shell had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. Shell's payout ratio is 65.90%.

Shell announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $3.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the energy company to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.