West Family Investments Inc. Sells 341 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

West Family Investments Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,798 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 341 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $1,240,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SHEL. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Shell by 930.2% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Human Investing LLC bought a new position in Shell in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new position in Shell in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Shell in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in Shell in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shell Price Performance

SHEL opened at $65.95 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.49. 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 $60.15 and a 1 year high of $74.61. The firm has a market cap of $200.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.14, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) 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 year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.716 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.34%. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SHEL. UBS Group upgraded Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.11.

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.