Principal Street Partners LLC Trims Holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Principal Street Partners LLC trimmed its position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) by 66.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,717 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 11,423 shares during the quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC's holdings in Shell were worth $358,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SHEL. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in Shell by 930.2% during the 4th 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 during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in Shell during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in Shell during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Shell during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. 28.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Shell from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Shell to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Shell from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Shell has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $78.35.

Shell Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SHEL traded up $0.31 during trading on Friday, hitting $66.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,064,455 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,297,516. The company has a 50-day moving average of $66.53 and a 200-day moving average of $65.84. Shell plc has a 12 month low of $58.55 and a 12 month 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 firm has a market cap of $199.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.30. Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. The firm had revenue of $69.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $79.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Dividend Announcement

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

Shell announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $3.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the energy company to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.