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

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $79.11.

A number of analysts have weighed in on SHEL shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group raised shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st.

Shell Price Performance

NYSE SHEL opened at $67.16 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.85. The company has a market cap of $205.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. Shell has a 1 year low of $60.15 and a 1 year high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Shell will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.26%. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shell

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SHEL. FMR LLC increased its position in Shell by 32.3% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its position in Shell by 170.3% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 3,463,372 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $216,980,000 after acquiring an additional 2,182,253 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Shell by 188.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,014,199 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $198,786,000 after acquiring an additional 1,967,672 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Shell in the 4th quarter valued at about $91,716,000. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in Shell in the 4th quarter valued at about $83,204,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.