Thomasville National Bank Boosts Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Thomasville National Bank raised its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) by 7.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 375,480 shares of the energy company's stock after purchasing an additional 25,527 shares during the quarter. Shell accounts for 2.0% of Thomasville National Bank's portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Thomasville National Bank's holdings in Shell were worth $27,515,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SHEL. FMR LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 21,118,234 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Shell by 170.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,182,253 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Shell during the 4th quarter valued at $91,716,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Shell in the 4th quarter worth about $83,204,000. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Shell by 46.5% during the 4th quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP now owns 2,262,997 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $141,777,000 after purchasing an additional 718,233 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SHEL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank lowered their price objective 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. Hsbc Global Res raised Shell to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Shell presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $78.26.

Shell Stock Up 1.5%

Shell stock traded up $1.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $72.49. The stock had a trading volume of 5,920,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,317,205. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $65.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.05. Shell plc has a 12-month low of $58.55 and a 12-month high of $74.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.39.

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

Shell Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Shell's dividend payout ratio is currently 65.90%.

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

Shell Company 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.