Baird Financial Group Inc. Buys 3,884 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 123,284 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 3,884 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $7,724,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SHEL. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Shell by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 86,417,177 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $5,414,036,000 after buying an additional 21,118,234 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Shell in the 4th quarter valued at $91,716,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter worth about $83,204,000. Bridgewater Associates LP raised its stake in shares of Shell by 523.9% in the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 831,000 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $52,062,000 after purchasing an additional 697,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Shell by 20.1% during 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SHEL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Shell in a report on Friday, April 4th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Shell from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.35.

Shell Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE SHEL opened at $65.07 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $66.74 and its 200 day moving average is $65.86. Shell plc has a 52 week low of $58.55 and a 52 week high of $74.61. The company has a market cap of $195.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.96, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $69.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.18 billion. Shell had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Friday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $3.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the energy company to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Shell Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.716 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.40%. Shell’s payout ratio is 65.90%.

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.