Unified Investment Management Takes Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Unified Investment Management acquired a new position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 18,451 shares of the energy company's stock, valued at approximately $1,156,000. Shell accounts for approximately 1.3% of Unified Investment Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SHEL. FMR LLC increased its position in Shell by 5.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 65,298,943 shares of the energy company's stock worth $4,306,465,000 after purchasing an additional 3,255,347 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Shell by 188.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,014,199 shares of the energy company's stock worth $198,786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,967,672 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP increased its position in Shell by 29.8% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 3,773,617 shares of the energy company's stock worth $248,870,000 after purchasing an additional 866,954 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Shell by 2.1% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,530,647 shares of the energy company's stock worth $1,617,796,000 after buying an additional 507,311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP boosted its holdings in Shell by 41.0% during the third quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP now owns 1,544,764 shares of the energy company's stock worth $101,877,000 after buying an additional 449,000 shares during the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shell Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:SHEL opened at $67.42 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $205.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. Shell plc has a twelve month low of $60.15 and a twelve month high of $74.61. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $65.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Shell plc 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. 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 4.25%. Shell's payout ratio is presently 56.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Shell Profile

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.

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