Independence Bank of Kentucky Decreases Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Independence Bank of Kentucky lowered its position in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 23.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,628 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 1,455 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky’s holdings in Shell were worth $310,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Shell in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC raised its position in Shell by 84.4% in the 4th quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 413 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Shell by 217.7% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 413 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Shell by 611.1% in the fourth quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 448 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the period. Finally, Fortis Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in Shell during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on SHEL shares. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Shell from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Shell from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Shell from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.25.

Shell Stock Performance

NYSE:SHEL opened at $72.18 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.42. Shell plc has a 52-week low of $58.14 and a 52-week high of $74.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $229.51 billion, a PE ratio of 13.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.60.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.51. Shell had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 13.83%. The company had revenue of $74.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.03 billion. Analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 8.55 EPS for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a $0.688 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.81%. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.74%.

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.