Cozad Asset Management Inc. Raises Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 17.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,094 shares of the energy company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,373 shares during the quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $570,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Shell by 930.2% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in Shell in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Shell Price Performance

Shell stock opened at $70.97 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $215.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. 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 plc has a 1 year low of $60.15 and a 1 year high of $74.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $66.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.19.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share (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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.716 dividend. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.04%. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.