Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,840,000 shares, an increase of 14.8% from the January 15th total of 5,960,000 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,220,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Shell by 51.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,463 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $468,000 after buying an additional 2,545 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its stake in Shell by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 3,741 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. HF Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Shell by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 29,560 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,852,000 after purchasing an additional 4,028 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in Shell by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 3,125,284 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $206,116,000 after purchasing an additional 46,293 shares during the period. Finally, Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. raised its stake in Shell by 266.1% during the 4th quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 122,030 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $7,645,000 after purchasing an additional 88,700 shares during the period. 28.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on SHEL shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded Shell from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. 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 report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group upgraded Shell from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $79.11.

Shell Stock Performance

NYSE SHEL traded up $0.83 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $68.43. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,806,373 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,053,759. The company has a market cap of $208.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $64.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.84. Shell has a 12 month low of $60.15 and a 12 month high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last announced 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 return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Shell will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.716 dividend. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.19%. This is a boost from Shell's previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Shell's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.97%.

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.