Heritage Investors Management Corp Reduces Stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Heritage Investors Management Corp decreased its position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 98,140 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 2,243 shares during the period. Heritage Investors Management Corp’s holdings in Shell were worth $6,458,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in Shell by 29.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,087,703 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,872,666,000 after acquiring an additional 6,554,340 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Shell by 162.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,763,562 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $113,538,000 after buying an additional 1,092,670 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Shell by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,742,878 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $562,866,000 after buying an additional 848,104 shares during the period. L1 Capital Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Shell by 188.7% during the 3rd quarter. L1 Capital Pty Ltd now owns 1,224,617 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $78,841,000 after acquiring an additional 800,365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Shell by 7,154.1% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 785,622 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $50,578,000 after acquiring an additional 774,792 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Stock Performance

NYSE SHEL traded up $0.92 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $73.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,172,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,653,999. The stock has a market cap of $236.66 billion, a PE ratio of 13.57, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.18. Shell plc has a 52 week low of $55.78 and a 52 week high of $73.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.688 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.74%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Shell from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Shell from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Shell from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.50.

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.