Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $79.69.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SHEL shares. UBS Group upgraded Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Shell from $87.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Shell to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th.

Shell Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SHEL opened at $66.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $203.80 billion, a PE ratio of 13.72, a P/E/G ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $64.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.68. Shell has a 1-year low of $60.15 and a 1-year high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $72.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.58 billion. Shell had a net margin of 5.17% and a return on equity of 14.54%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.86 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Shell will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $0.688 dividend. This represents a $2.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.58%.

Institutional Trading of Shell

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Shell in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Shell in the third quarter worth $33,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Shell in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Shell by 40.8% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 563 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired 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.

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.