4,517 Shares in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Purchased by Vista Investment Partners II LLC

Vista Investment Partners II LLC purchased a new position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,517 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $283,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SHEL. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its holdings in Shell by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 17,570 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,215 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Shell by 59.7% in the fourth quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 5,115 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 1,913 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co. lifted its holdings in Shell by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 3,760 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Shell by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 23,614 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Haven Private LLC bought a new position in shares of Shell in the 4th quarter worth approximately $376,000. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on SHEL. Wolfe Research raised Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target 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 research note on Wednesday, January 8th. 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. Morgan Stanley upgraded Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Shell has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.11.

Shell Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE SHEL opened at $66.80 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $203.16 billion, a PE ratio of 13.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a 50-day moving average of $65.98 and a 200 day moving average of $66.38. Shell plc has a 12-month low of $60.15 and a 12-month high of $74.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.716 dividend. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Shell’s payout ratio is currently 56.97%.

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.