Kestra Investment Management LLC Takes $47,000 Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 748 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SHEL. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Shell by 930.2% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Shell in the third quarter worth $30,000. Human Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Shell in the third quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Shell in the third quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Price Performance

Shares of SHEL opened at $66.67 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $202.75 billion, a PE ratio of 13.28, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.54. The company’s 50-day moving average is $64.89 and its 200-day moving average is $66.81. 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 0.36, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. Equities analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.716 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 4.30%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is 56.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SHEL. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group raised shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.11.

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.