Hantz Financial Services Inc. Reduces Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Hantz Financial Services Inc. reduced its position in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,587 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 766 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $1,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in Shell during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Shell in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in Shell in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Price Performance

SHEL stock opened at $65.82 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $201.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.54, a PEG ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $64.17 and a 200-day moving average of $67.36. Shell plc has a 12-month low of $60.15 and a 12-month high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its earnings results 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 5.17% and a return on equity of 14.54%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Shell plc will post 8.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.716 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.35%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on SHEL shares. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Shell from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Wolfe Research raised 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. UBS Group raised Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price 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.