Shell (NYSE:SHEL) Upgraded to "Hold" at Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Shell has been upgraded to a "hold" rating by Wells Fargo & Company, following recent recommendations from other analysts who have assigned ratings ranging from 'strong-buy' to 'neutral'.
• The stock price of Shell increased by 1.7% to open at $72.56, with a market capitalization of approximately $210.85 billion.
• Analysts project Shell will report an EPS of 7.67 for the current fiscal year, having reported earnings that surpassed estimates in its last quarterly results.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company to a "hold" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Shell to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a "hold" rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a "hold" rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Santander cut shares of Shell to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, HSBC reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $78.30 target price (down from $78.90) on shares of Shell in a report on Monday, August 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $79.41.

Shell Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of Shell stock opened at $72.56 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $210.85 billion, a PE ratio of 16.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.39. Shell has a 52-week low of $58.54 and a 52-week high of $75.08. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.71.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shell

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Shell by 2.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 23,272,913 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,705,430,000 after purchasing an additional 451,233 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Shell by 5.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,253,238 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $531,519,000 after purchasing an additional 352,569 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Shell by 21.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,571,809 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $481,582,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150,198 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Shell by 0.4% during the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,592,218 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $263,238,000 after purchasing an additional 15,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Shell by 5.1% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,260,245 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $238,911,000 after purchasing an additional 158,915 shares during the last quarter. 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.

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