Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Short Interest Up 62.6% in March

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,210,000 shares, a growth of 62.6% from the February 28th total of 5,050,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,330,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days. Currently, 0.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Shell Stock Performance

NYSE SHEL traded down $0.55 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $72.74. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,538,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,169,071. The stock has a market cap of $219.95 billion, a PE ratio of 14.49, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.42. Shell has a 52 week low of $60.15 and a 52 week high of $74.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.716 dividend. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.94%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is 56.97%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shell

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SHEL. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in Shell by 930.2% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Human Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Shell in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in Shell during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Shell during the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on SHEL. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wolfe Research upgraded Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group upgraded shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Shell from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Shell currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average 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.