Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc Sells 42,275 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc lessened its holdings in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) by 77.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,629 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 42,275 shares during the quarter. Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc's holdings in Shell were worth $925,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SHEL. FMR LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 21,118,234 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Shell by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,938,735 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,562,412,000 after purchasing an additional 408,088 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Shell by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,982,817 shares of the energy company's stock worth $500,123,000 after buying an additional 238,705 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 50,228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Shell by 170.3% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 3,463,372 shares of the energy company's stock worth $216,980,000 after acquiring an additional 2,182,253 shares during the period. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shell Price Performance

NYSE:SHEL traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $68.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,054,088 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,294,770. The company has a market capitalization of $203.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Shell plc has a fifty-two week low of $58.55 and a fifty-two week high of $74.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $65.56 and a 200-day moving average of $65.86.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. The business had revenue of $69.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $79.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.21%. Shell's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Hsbc Global Res raised Shell to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Shell from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. One equities research 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 presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $78.35.

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.