American Century Companies Inc. Grows Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 897,154 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 54,305 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $56,207,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Shell by 930.2% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Human Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Shell during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Shell in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shell Trading Up 1.3 %

SHEL stock opened at $73.00 on Thursday. Shell plc has a one year low of $60.15 and a one year high of $74.61. The company has a market capitalization of $220.73 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $67.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. As a group, analysts predict that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.716 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Shell’s payout ratio is presently 56.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SHEL shares. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Shell from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group upgraded Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen started coverage on Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Shell from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.10.

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.