Sonora Investment Management Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Sonora Investment Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,912 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 285 shares during the period. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in Shell were worth $433,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Procyon Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Shell by 3.2% during the third quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 5,074 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. raised its holdings in Shell by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 3,393 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $213,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Shell by 40.8% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 563 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Doliver Advisors LP raised its holdings in Shell by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Doliver Advisors LP now owns 3,632 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $228,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Shell by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,889 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. 28.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shell Stock Performance

Shares of SHEL stock opened at $65.82 on Friday. Shell plc has a one year low of $60.15 and a one year high of $74.61. The company’s 50-day moving average is $64.17 and its 200 day moving average is $67.36. The company has a market capitalization of $201.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its 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 net margin of 5.17% and a return on equity of 14.54%. Sell-side analysts expect that Shell plc will post 8.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.35%. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SHEL. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Shell from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Wolfe Research raised shares of 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. UBS Group raised shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.11.

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.