Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Short Interest Update

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,050,000 shares, a decrease of 18.5% from the February 13th total of 6,200,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,190,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.2 days. Currently, 0.2% of the company's shares are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on SHEL. TD Securities upped their target price on Shell from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Shell in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. UBS Group upgraded Shell from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wolfe Research upgraded Shell from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Shell currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $79.48.

Remove Ads

Shell Stock Performance

Shares of Shell stock traded down $0.88 on Friday, reaching $71.08. 3,756,201 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,962,950. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company's 50-day moving average is $67.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.22. The firm has a market cap of $214.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. Shell has a 1-year low of $60.15 and a 1-year high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Shell will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm 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 4.03%. This is an increase from Shell's previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Shell's payout ratio is presently 56.97%.

Institutional Trading of Shell

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SHEL. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Shell by 930.2% during 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 in the last quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Shell during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Human Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Shell in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in shares of Shell in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the third quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company's stock.

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.