Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. Sells 4,725 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. decreased its position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 658,852 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 4,725 shares during the period. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Shell were worth $41,277,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in SHEL. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Shell by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 86,417,177 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $5,414,036,000 after purchasing an additional 21,118,234 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Shell by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,938,735 shares of the energy company's stock worth $1,562,412,000 after acquiring an additional 408,088 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 238,705 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 50,228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Shell by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,101,330 shares of the energy company's stock worth $194,298,000 after purchasing an additional 519,105 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.60% of the company's stock.

Shell Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE SHEL traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $67.39. The company had a trading volume of 2,669,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,319,503. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $66.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.87. Shell plc has a 12-month low of $58.55 and a 12-month high of $74.46. The company has a market capitalization of $202.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.35.

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

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

Shell Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.716 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.25%. Shell's dividend payout ratio is currently 65.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SHEL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. TD Securities reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Shell from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $78.35.

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.