Moore Capital Management LP Takes $10.46 Million Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Moore Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 167,009 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,463,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Shell by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 86,417,177 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $5,414,036,000 after purchasing an additional 21,118,234 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Shell by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,938,735 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,562,412,000 after purchasing an additional 408,088 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Shell by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,982,817 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $500,123,000 after buying an additional 238,705 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Shell by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,023,173 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $377,352,000 after acquiring an additional 50,228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Trading Up 1.7%

Shell stock opened at $66.16 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $199.01 billion, a PE ratio of 13.18, 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 quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $66.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.84. Shell plc has a one year low of $58.55 and a one year high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $69.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.18 billion. Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Friday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $3.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the energy company to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.716 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.33%. Shell’s payout ratio is 65.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank cut their price target on Shell from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Shell from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.35.

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.