Shell (NYSE:SHEL) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at Melius Research

Key Points

• Melius Research has initiated coverage on Shell with a "hold" rating and a $70.00 price target, indicating a potential downside of 2.91% from the current stock price.
• Shell's shares have seen a trading volume of 339,022 on Wednesday, with the stock currently priced at $72.0950 and a market capitalization of $211.83 billion.
• Institutional investors have increased their stakes in Shell recently, with notable increases from Brighton Jones LLC and Barclays PLC, indicating growing confidence in the company's stock.

Analysts at Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage set a "hold" rating and a $70.00 price target on the energy company's stock. Melius Research's price objective indicates a potential downside of 5.28% from the stock's current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Shell from $84.00 to $82.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Shell from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. HSBC reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $78.30 price objective (down from $78.90) on shares of Shell in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Shell from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $76.71.

Shell Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE SHEL traded up $0.5850 on Wednesday, hitting $73.9050. The stock had a trading volume of 1,520,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,641,315. The business's fifty day moving average price is $71.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Shell has a 52-week low of $58.54 and a 52-week high of $74.18. The stock has a market cap of $217.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.44.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The energy company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.29. Shell had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 10.67%. The business had revenue of $66.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $69.31 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Shell will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $3.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the energy company to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Shell by 51.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,463 shares of the energy company's stock worth $468,000 after purchasing an additional 2,545 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Shell by 136.2% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,824 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $490,000 after acquiring an additional 4,512 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Shell by 4.4% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 19,323 shares of the energy company's stock worth $1,401,000 after buying an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Shell by 2.7% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 908,572 shares of the energy company's stock worth $66,580,000 after buying an additional 23,680 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Shell by 100.9% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 11,534 shares of the energy company's stock worth $845,000 after buying an additional 5,794 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.