Two Sigma Advisers LP Purchases 348,300 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) by 53.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,003,200 shares of the energy company's stock after buying an additional 348,300 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP's holdings in Shell were worth $62,850,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Shell by 36.8% during the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 11,735 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $735,000 after purchasing an additional 3,159 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $360,000. Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its position in shares of Shell by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 15,988 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 3,526 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Shell by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,351 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $586,000 after purchasing an additional 1,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Shell by 60.6% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 394,592 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $24,721,000 after purchasing an additional 148,823 shares in the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Shell Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of SHEL stock traded up $0.31 during mid-day 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 4,305,328. Shell plc has a 52-week low of $58.55 and a 52-week high of $74.46. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $66.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.83. 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 cap of $199.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.20, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38.

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. Shell had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. The firm had revenue of $69.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $79.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.40 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell announced that its Board of Directors has approved 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Shell's dividend payout ratio is currently 65.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on SHEL. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Shell from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Shell from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Shell to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Shell has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price 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.