Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Purchases 904 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,524 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 904 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Shell were worth $409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Shell during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Shell in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Shell during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Shell by 40.8% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 563 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Shell by 567.0% in the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 627 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares during the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SHEL. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Citigroup upgraded Shell to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.69.

Shell Stock Performance

NYSE SHEL opened at $64.68 on Thursday. Shell plc has a fifty-two week low of $60.15 and a fifty-two week high of $74.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $197.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.31, a PEG ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.42.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $72.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.58 billion. Shell had a net margin of 5.17% and a return on equity of 14.54%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.86 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.688 per share. This represents a $2.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Shell’s payout ratio is currently 56.58%.

Shell Company 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.