Northstar Financial Companies Inc. Invests $483,000 in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Northstar Financial Companies Inc. acquired a new position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 7,705 shares of the energy company's stock, valued at approximately $483,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $5,414,036,000 after purchasing an additional 21,118,234 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Shell by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,938,735 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,562,412,000 after acquiring an additional 408,088 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Shell by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,982,817 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $500,123,000 after acquiring an additional 238,705 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Shell by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,023,173 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $377,352,000 after acquiring an additional 50,228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,182,253 shares during the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shell Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Shell stock traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $66.24. The company had a trading volume of 3,432,149 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,300,269. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $197.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50 day moving average of $66.01 and a 200 day moving average of $65.81. Shell plc has a 52-week low of $58.55 and a 52-week high of $74.46.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $69.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.18 billion. Shell had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Friday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $3.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the energy company to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Shell Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on SHEL shares. 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 research report on Monday, May 5th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Shell from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Hsbc Global Res raised Shell to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $78.35.

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.