Shell Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:SHEL)

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders purchased 18,985 call options on the company. This is an increase of 170% compared to the average volume of 7,030 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shell

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Shell by 29.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,087,703 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,872,666,000 after buying an additional 6,554,340 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Shell by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,871,131 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,504,920,000 after buying an additional 477,432 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Shell by 4.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,356,191 shares of the energy company's stock worth $602,352,000 after purchasing an additional 384,967 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Shell by 10.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,742,878 shares of the energy company's stock worth $562,866,000 after purchasing an additional 848,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Shell by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,173,651 shares of the energy company's stock worth $406,226,000 after purchasing an additional 143,910 shares during the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Shell Stock Up 0.5 %

SHEL traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $72.40. 3,634,511 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,780,894. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $232.95 billion, a PE ratio of 12.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $66.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.59. Shell has a 1 year low of $55.78 and a 1 year high of $73.94.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The energy company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $80.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.59 billion. Shell had a net margin of 5.99% and a return on equity of 14.69%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Shell will post 8.12 EPS for the current year.

Shell Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a $0.662 dividend. This represents a $2.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. Shell's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, TheStreet raised shares of Shell from a "c" rating to a "b-" rating in a report on Monday, January 29th.

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.