New England Asset Management Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

New England Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) by 13.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,415 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 13,125 shares during the quarter. New England Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Shell were worth $5,351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Shell by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 86,417,177 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $5,414,036,000 after buying an additional 21,118,234 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Shell by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,938,735 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,562,412,000 after purchasing an additional 408,088 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Shell by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,982,817 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $500,123,000 after purchasing an additional 238,705 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Shell by 0.8% in the fourth 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 holdings in Shell by 20.1% during the fourth 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 period. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shell Stock Down 1.2%

NYSE SHEL traded down $0.82 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $66.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,507,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,309,853. Shell plc has a 52 week low of $58.55 and a 52 week high of $74.46. The company has a market capitalization of $200.26 billion, a PE ratio of 13.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $66.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.88.

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

Shell announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $3.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the energy company to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.30%. Shell's payout ratio is currently 65.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SHEL shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Shell to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Shell in a report on Friday, April 4th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Shell from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Shell presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $78.35.

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.