Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Given Average Rating of "Buy" by Analysts

Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Buy" by the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have given a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $78.35.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Shell to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Shell from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 5th. TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Friday, April 4th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Shell from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on Shell from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shell

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SHEL. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Shell by 32.3% in the fourth 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 during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Shell by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,938,735 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,562,412,000 after purchasing an additional 408,088 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Shell by 2.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 23,272,913 shares of the energy company's stock worth $1,705,430,000 after buying an additional 451,233 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Shell by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,982,817 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $500,123,000 after buying an additional 238,705 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 352,569 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company's stock.

Shell Stock Up 1.8%

NYSE:SHEL traded up $1.20 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $67.42. The company had a trading volume of 3,516,999 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,297,149. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.43, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38. Shell has a 1 year low of $58.55 and a 1 year high of $74.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.30. Shell had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. The firm had revenue of $69.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Shell will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Shell Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.25%. Shell's payout ratio is 65.90%.

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.