Kovack Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Kovack Advisors Inc. cut its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,141 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 187 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SHEL. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Shell by 45.4% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 16,181 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,067,000 after acquiring an additional 5,050 shares during the last quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Shell in the third quarter valued at $329,000. Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in Shell by 3.5% in the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 169,488 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $11,178,000 after purchasing an additional 5,800 shares during the period. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC increased its stake in Shell by 16.1% in the third quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 9,276 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $612,000 after purchasing an additional 1,289 shares during the period. Finally, Caas Capital Management LP increased its stake in Shell by 7.4% in the third quarter. Caas Capital Management LP now owns 29,000 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,913,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. 28.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Shell Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of SHEL opened at $67.42 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $65.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.71. Shell plc has a twelve month low of $60.15 and a twelve month high of $74.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $205.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.43, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last issued 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 return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. On average, research analysts predict that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.716 dividend. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.25%. 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 dividend payout ratio is 56.97%.

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.