Kestra Investment Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F 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 have also modified their holdings of the business. Foster Group Inc. grew its stake in Shell by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 3,393 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $213,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Shell by 40.8% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 563 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Shell by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,268 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $205,000 after buying an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. RHS Financial LLC grew its stake in Shell by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. RHS Financial LLC now owns 5,667 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Doliver Advisors LP grew its stake in Shell by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Doliver Advisors LP now owns 3,632 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $228,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shell Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE SHEL opened at $66.67 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.81. The firm has a market cap of $202.75 billion, a PE ratio of 13.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.54. Shell plc has a 1 year low of $60.15 and a 1 year 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 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This is a positive change from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.30%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Shell 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.