Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Shares Sold by Alyeska Investment Group L.P.

Alyeska Investment Group L.P. cut its position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) by 54.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 546,879 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 651,462 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P.'s holdings in Shell were worth $34,262,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Shell by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 86,417,177 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $5,414,036,000 after acquiring an additional 21,118,234 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Shell by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,982,817 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $500,123,000 after buying an additional 238,705 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 50,228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 519,105 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on SHEL shares. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group raised shares of Shell from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Shell from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $77.35.

Shell Stock Down 0.1 %

SHEL traded down $0.06 on Wednesday, reaching $65.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,616,179 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,319,840. The business's 50 day moving average is $66.82 and its 200 day moving average is $65.87. Shell plc has a 1 year low of $58.55 and a 1 year high of $74.61. The stock has a market cap of $195.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

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

Shell Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Shell's dividend payout ratio is currently 65.90%.

Shell declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $3.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the energy company to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.