Shell (NYSE:SHEL) Hits New 52-Week High at $68.97

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $68.97 and last traded at $68.93, with a volume of 871554 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $67.92.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on SHEL shares. TheStreet upgraded shares of Shell from a "c" rating to a "b-" rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Shell from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 13th.

Shell Trading Up 2.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $225.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.00, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $64.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.90.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The energy company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $80.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.59 billion. Shell had a net margin of 5.99% and a return on equity of 14.69%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.76 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 8.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a $0.662 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $2.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. Shell's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.59%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shell

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SHEL. Park National Corp OH boosted its stake in shares of Shell by 6.1% in the first quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 29,008 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,945,000 after purchasing an additional 1,663 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the first quarter worth approximately $992,000. Fairman Group LLC purchased a new position in Shell in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. SCP Investment LP grew its stake in shares of Shell by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. SCP Investment LP now owns 22,800 shares of the energy company's stock worth $1,480,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Shell during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,619,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company's stock.

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 necessary to deliver gas to market.