Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Shell Call Options (NYSE:SHEL)

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 10,264 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 48% compared to the typical daily volume of 6,922 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SHEL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Shell from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Royal Bank of Canada raised Shell to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Shell in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Berenberg Bank raised Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Shell from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Shell has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shell

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SHEL. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Shell by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,823,227 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,501,768,000 after buying an additional 429,528 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Shell by 0.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 22,722,317 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,640,082,000 after purchasing an additional 96,549 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Shell by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,715,078 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $450,180,000 after purchasing an additional 772,736 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Shell by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,173,651 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $406,226,000 after buying an additional 143,910 shares during the period. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Shell by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 5,325,276 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $350,403,000 after buying an additional 885,069 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Trading Down 2.0 %

SHEL traded down $1.34 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $66.78. 2,794,459 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,082,709. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $72.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.29. Shell has a 1-year low of $60.34 and a 1-year high of $74.61. The company has a market cap of $211.16 billion, a PE ratio of 12.57, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The energy company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.15. Shell had a net margin of 5.97% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The business had revenue of $75.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.50 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Shell will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $0.688 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $2.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. Shell’s payout ratio is 50.74%.

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.