Townsquare Capital LLC Grows Holdings in Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR (NYSE:SHEL)

Key Points

• Townsquare Capital LLC increased its holding in Shell PLC by 37.3%, acquiring 59,584 additional shares, bringing its total stake to 219,210 shares worth approximately $16 million.
• A variety of institutional investors have also adjusted their positions in Shell, with Brighton Jones LLC increasing its holdings by 51.7% during the last quarter.
• Shell recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.716 per share, yielding 4.0%, alongside a significant share repurchase program of $3.50 billion.

Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) by 37.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 219,210 shares of the energy company's stock after buying an additional 59,584 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC's holdings in Shell were worth $16,064,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,545 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Shell by 136.2% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,824 shares of the energy company's stock worth $490,000 after acquiring an additional 4,512 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Shell by 4.4% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 19,323 shares of the energy company's stock worth $1,401,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Shell by 2.7% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 908,572 shares of the energy company's stock worth $66,580,000 after acquiring an additional 23,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Shell by 100.9% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 11,534 shares of the energy company's stock worth $845,000 after acquiring an additional 5,794 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company's stock.

Shell Stock Performance

NYSE:SHEL traded up $1.04 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $72.45. The stock had a trading volume of 1,823,920 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,737,150. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.22. Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR has a 12-month low of $58.54 and a 12-month high of $74.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $214.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.44.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The energy company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $66.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $69.31 billion. Shell had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 10.67%. On average, equities analysts expect that Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Shell announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Friday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $3.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the energy company to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.716 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Shell's payout ratio is currently 64.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on SHEL. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Shell from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Santander cut shares of Shell to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Shell from $80.00 to $79.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Shell in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Shell from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Shell presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $78.64.

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.