Shell's (SHEL) Overweight Rating Reiterated at Piper Sandler

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Piper Sandler in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $83.00 price objective on the energy company's stock, up from their previous price objective of $80.00. Piper Sandler's target price points to a potential upside of 16.25% from the stock's current price.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Shell to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Shell from $80.00 to $79.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Shell from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Shell presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $78.54.

Shell Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SHEL traded down $0.89 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $71.40. 2,413,800 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,437,604. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.67. Shell has a twelve month low of $58.55 and a twelve month high of $74.46. The firm has a market cap of $212.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.45, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.40.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $69.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $79.18 billion. Shell had a net margin of 4.75% and a return on equity of 11.71%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Shell will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $3.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the energy company to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SHEL. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Shell by 51.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,463 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 2,545 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Shell by 136.2% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,824 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $490,000 after buying an additional 4,512 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Shell by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 199,856 shares of the energy company's stock worth $12,521,000 after acquiring an additional 14,937 shares in the last quarter. Choate Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in Shell by 119.0% during the 4th quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 7,500 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $470,000 after acquiring an additional 4,076 shares during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 5,794 shares during the period. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.