Merit Financial Group LLC Has $845,000 Holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) by 100.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,534 shares of the energy company's stock after buying an additional 5,794 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Shell were worth $845,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Shell by 51.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,463 shares of the energy company's stock worth $468,000 after purchasing an additional 2,545 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Shell in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,876,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Shell in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Shell by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,325 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,023,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in shares of Shell by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 45,544 shares of the energy company's stock worth $2,853,000 after purchasing an additional 6,854 shares in the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Shell from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Shell to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $78.26.

Shell Price Performance

Shares of SHEL opened at $68.03 on Monday. Shell plc has a 1 year low of $58.55 and a 1 year high of $74.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company has a market capitalization of $203.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50-day moving average of $65.46 and a 200-day moving average of $65.87.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last issued 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $79.18 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.716 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.21%. Shell's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.90%.

Shell declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Friday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $3.50 billion in outstanding 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 typically 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.

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