Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR (NYSE:SHEL)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR (NYSE:SHEL) by 84.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,533 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 19,957 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $3,190,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SHEL. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Shell by 42,743.3% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 2,867,929 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $210,162,000 after purchasing an additional 2,861,235 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Shell during the 1st quarter worth $180,366,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Shell by 170.3% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 3,463,372 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $216,980,000 after acquiring an additional 2,182,253 shares during the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Shell during the 4th quarter worth $83,204,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of Shell by 2,096.7% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,217,115 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $89,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,161,709 shares during the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on SHEL shares. HSBC restated a “hold” rating and issued a $78.30 price objective (down previously from $78.90) on shares of Shell in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Santander cut shares of Shell to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Shell from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Shell from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Shell from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.64.

Shell Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of Shell stock opened at $71.94 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $212.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.44. The company’s 50 day moving average is $71.46 and its 200 day moving average is $68.38. Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR has a twelve month low of $58.54 and a twelve month high of $74.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The energy company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.29. Shell had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 10.67%. The business had revenue of $66.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $69.31 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.716 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is 64.41%.

Shell declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Friday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $3.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the energy company to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.