Forum Financial Management LP Acquires 9,028 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Forum Financial Management LP boosted its holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 28.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,916 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,028 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP’s holdings in Shell were worth $2,563,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Shell by 930.2% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. 28.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SHEL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Shell from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Shell from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Shell has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $78.35.

Shell Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE:SHEL opened at $66.26 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.20, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38. Shell plc has a one year low of $58.55 and a one year high of $74.46. 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) last posted its quarterly 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. Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. The firm had revenue of $69.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 4.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.90%.

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

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.