Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Shares Purchased by Hennessy Advisors Inc.

Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) by 5.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 82,000 shares of the energy company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,900 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Shell were worth $6,009,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Shell by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 86,417,177 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $5,414,036,000 after purchasing an additional 21,118,234 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised 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 in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Shell in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $91,716,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Shell in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $83,204,000. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP raised its position in shares of Shell by 46.5% in the 4th quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP now owns 2,262,997 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $141,777,000 after purchasing an additional 718,233 shares in the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SHEL shares. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Shell from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Shell to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Shell from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Shell in a report on Friday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $78.26.

Shell Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SHEL traded up $1.05 on Friday, hitting $72.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,920,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,318,045. Shell plc has a 12 month low of $58.55 and a 12 month high of $74.46. The company has a market capitalization of $216.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.39. The stock's 50-day moving average is $65.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $79.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.40 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.716 per share. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Shell's payout ratio is currently 65.90%.

Shell declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase 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 repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.