Confluence Wealth Services Inc. lowered its holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL – Get Rating) by 15.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,168 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 927 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.'s holdings in Shell were worth $257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Shell by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,770,344 shares of the energy company's stock worth $1,033,532,000 after purchasing an additional 515,019 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in Shell in the first quarter worth approximately $677,739,000. Pendal Group Ltd lifted its stake in Shell by 17.8% in the third quarter. Pendal Group Ltd now owns 10,773,379 shares of the energy company's stock worth $270,590,000 after acquiring an additional 1,628,001 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Shell in the 1st quarter valued at $549,346,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new position in shares of Shell during the first quarter worth $262,275,000. 7.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on SHEL shares. Grupo Santander downgraded Shell from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Shell from GBX 2,761 ($34.10) to GBX 2,987 ($36.89) in a research report on Tuesday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Shell from GBX 2,900 ($35.82) to GBX 2,950 ($36.43) in a research report on Friday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut Shell from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Shell from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $2,161.63.

Shell Stock Up 1.2 %

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.575 per share. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.95%. This is an increase from Shell's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 16th. Shell's dividend payout ratio is 17.51%.

Shell Company Profile

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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 necessary to deliver gas to market.

Further Reading

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