Park Avenue Securities LLC Trims Stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Park Avenue Securities LLC decreased its position in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 18.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 54,837 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 12,074 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Shell were worth $4,018,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. raised its holdings in Shell by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. now owns 9,518 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $596,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Titleist Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Shell by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC now owns 5,526 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $346,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. Warther Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Shell by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,268 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $205,000 after buying an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC grew its stake in Shell by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 3,421 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $214,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC raised its position in Shell by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 17,001 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,065,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. 28.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on SHEL shares. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Shell from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Shell from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $78.26.

Shell Stock Performance

Shares of Shell stock opened at $68.26 on Tuesday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $65.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.89. The company has a market cap of $204.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.60, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.39. Shell plc has a one year low of $58.55 and a one year high of $74.46.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Shell declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Friday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $3.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the energy company to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given 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 4.20%. Shell’s payout ratio is currently 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.