Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Sells 23,804 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS decreased its stake in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 442,363 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 23,804 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Shell were worth $27,714,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SHEL. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in Shell by 930.2% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Shell during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Human Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new position in Shell during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Shell in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on SHEL shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target 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. UBS Group upgraded shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Wolfe Research raised Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One investment 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 MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.11.

Shell Stock Performance

Shares of SHEL opened at $67.16 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $205.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.38, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. Shell plc has a twelve month low of $60.15 and a twelve month high of $74.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $64.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.85.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced its earnings results 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, analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.716 per share. This is a positive change from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is 54.78%.

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.