Shell (NYSE:SHEL) Upgraded by Citigroup to Hold

Citigroup upgraded shares of Shell (NYSE:SHEL) to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on SHEL. Wolfe Research began coverage on Shell in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued a peer perform rating for the company. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Shell from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a sector outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Shell to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Shell to a moderate buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Shell to a strong-buy rating in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Shell has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $83.50.

Shell Stock Performance

NYSE:SHEL opened at $68.46 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Shell has a twelve month low of $60.34 and a twelve month high of $74.61. The stock has a market cap of $216.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.78.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The energy company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.15. Shell had a net margin of 5.97% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The company had revenue of $75.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.50 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Shell will post 8.44 EPS for the current year.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $0.688 per share. This represents a $2.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.74%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shell

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SHEL. Farmers Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Shell by 4.4% in the third quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 6,485 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $428,000 after buying an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Shell in the 3rd quarter worth $121,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Shell by 721.4% during the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 116,644 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $8,419,000 after purchasing an additional 102,444 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Shell by 378.7% in the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 718 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Shell during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $10,505,000. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Company 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.