Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Purchases 437 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,614 shares of the energy company’s stock after acquiring an additional 437 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $1,479,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SHEL. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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. Human Investing LLC bought a new position in Shell during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Shell in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Shell during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on SHEL. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of 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. Piper Sandler lowered 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, Wolfe Research raised Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Shell currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.11.

Shell Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SHEL opened at $66.80 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $65.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.45. The company has a market cap of $203.16 billion, a PE ratio of 13.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. Shell plc has a twelve month low of $60.15 and a twelve month high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. On average, analysts predict that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

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

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.