National Bank of Canada FI Raises Stock Holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) by 236.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 445,422 shares of the energy company's stock after purchasing an additional 313,018 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI's holdings in Shell were worth $27,906,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Shell by 930.2% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in Shell during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Human Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Shell in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Shell by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 600 shares of the energy company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of Shell from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Shell from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Shell from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.10.

Shell Stock Down 8.1 %

Shell stock traded down $5.64 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $64.13. 9,976,657 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,180,911. 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 company has a market cap of $193.92 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $68.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.52. Shell plc has a 12 month low of $60.15 and a 12 month high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. As a group, analysts expect that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.716 per share. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.47%. This is an increase from Shell's previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Shell's payout ratio is 56.97%.

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.