HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 65,727 Shares of Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR $SHEL

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Shell PLC by 15.2% during the first quarter, ending up with approximately $26.83 million worth of shares after selling 65,727 shares.
• Shell has recently been the subject of various analyst ratings changes, with price targets fluctuating; the average rating is now a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $78.64.
• The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.716 per share, which translates to an annual yield of 3.9%, and announced a stock buyback program allowing up to $3.5 billion in repurchases.

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its position in Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) by 15.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 366,120 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 65,727 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Shell were worth $26,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in SHEL. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Shell by 21.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,571,809 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $481,582,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150,198 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Shell by 0.4% during the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,592,218 shares of the energy company's stock worth $263,238,000 after purchasing an additional 15,043 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Shell by 170.3% during the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 3,463,372 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $216,980,000 after buying an additional 2,182,253 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Shell by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,101,330 shares of the energy company's stock worth $194,298,000 after purchasing an additional 519,105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Shell during the first quarter valued at $180,366,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.60% of the company's stock.

Shell Stock Performance

SHEL traded up $0.0960 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $71.6060. 1,001,136 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,682,792. The company has a market capitalization of $210.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.12, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $71.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.46. Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR has a fifty-two week low of $58.54 and a fifty-two week high of $74.18.

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

Shell Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.716 per share. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Shell's dividend payout ratio is currently 64.41%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SHEL. HSBC reissued a "hold" rating and set a $78.30 target price (down previously from $78.90) on shares of Shell in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Shell from $84.00 to $82.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Santander downgraded Shell to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Hsbc Global Res cut Shell from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Shell from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Shell has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $78.39.

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.