Lazard Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 80,866 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,816 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Shell were worth $5,064,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SHEL. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Shell by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 86,417,177 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $5,414,036,000 after acquiring an additional 21,118,234 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Shell in the fourth quarter valued at about $91,716,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in Shell during the 4th quarter worth approximately $83,204,000. Bridgewater Associates LP raised its stake in shares of Shell by 523.9% during the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 831,000 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $52,062,000 after buying an additional 697,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Shell by 14,434.6% in the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 556,239 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $34,848,000 after buying an additional 552,412 shares during the period. 28.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SHEL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Shell from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Shell from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Shell in a report on Friday, April 4th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Shell from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.35.

Shell Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Shell stock opened at $67.39 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $66.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.87. The company has a market capitalization of $202.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.42, a P/E/G 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 plc has a 1 year low of $58.55 and a 1 year high of $74.46.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.84 earnings per share (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 return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.25%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.90%.

Shell announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Shell 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.