Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Boosts Stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 30.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 36,920 shares of the energy company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,539 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Shell were worth $2,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SHEL. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Shell by 164.1% during the fourth quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,902 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $620,000 after buying an additional 6,152 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Shell in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,023,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in shares of Shell by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 45,544 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,853,000 after purchasing an additional 6,854 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Shell by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,325 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. increased its stake in Shell by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. now owns 331,460 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $20,766,000 after purchasing an additional 2,453 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE SHEL opened at $67.40 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $206.06 billion, a PE ratio of 13.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $64.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.03. Shell plc has a fifty-two week low of $60.15 and a fifty-two week high of $74.61. 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) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Shell plc will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders 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 an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.25%. Shell’s payout ratio is currently 56.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. 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. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $79.11.

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.