Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Acquires New Shares in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 100,000 shares of the energy company's stock, valued at approximately $6,265,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its position in Shell by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 86,417,177 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $5,414,036,000 after acquiring an additional 21,118,234 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Shell in the 4th quarter worth $91,716,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter valued at about $83,204,000. Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its stake in shares of Shell by 523.9% in the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 831,000 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $52,062,000 after acquiring an additional 697,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. grew its position in Shell by 14,434.6% during the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 556,239 shares of the energy company's stock worth $34,848,000 after acquiring an additional 552,412 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Shell to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Shell from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Shell in a report on Friday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $78.35.

Shell Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of SHEL traded down $0.82 on Friday, reaching $66.57. The stock had a trading volume of 2,507,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,312,754. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.35. Shell plc has a 12-month low of $58.55 and a 12-month high of $74.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $200.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.87.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.30. Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. The firm had revenue of $69.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Shell announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Friday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $3.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the energy company to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Shell Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.716 per share. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Shell's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.90%.

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.