Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Cuts Stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans trimmed its position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 703,484 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 11,506 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans' holdings in Shell were worth $44,137,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SHEL. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. bought a new position in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter valued at about $668,000. Cozad Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Shell by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,094 shares of the energy company's stock worth $570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,373 shares during the last quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Shell by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 189,310 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $11,860,000 after purchasing an additional 3,533 shares during the last quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN increased its stake in shares of Shell by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 4,818 shares of the energy company's stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 635 shares during the period. Finally, one8zero8 LLC bought a new stake in Shell in the 4th quarter valued at $207,000. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SHEL. UBS Group raised shares of Shell from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. 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. TD Cowen started coverage on Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $81.00 price objective on the stock. TD Securities lifted their price target on Shell from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $79.48.

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Shell Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Shell stock traded up $0.32 on Monday, hitting $71.33. 4,391,995 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,964,665. Shell plc has a one year low of $60.15 and a one year high of $74.61. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $67.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.22. The company has a market capitalization of $215.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.716 per share. This is a positive change from Shell's previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.02%. 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.