Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Buy" from Analysts

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Buy" from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $78.35.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Shell from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Friday, April 4th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th.

Institutional Trading of Shell

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SHEL. FMR LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 21,118,234 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Shell by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,938,735 shares of the energy company's stock worth $1,562,412,000 after buying an additional 408,088 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 451,233 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Shell by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,982,817 shares of the energy company's stock worth $500,123,000 after acquiring an additional 238,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Shell by 5.1% in the 1st 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. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shell Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of SHEL stock traded down $0.20 on Thursday, hitting $66.24. 3,432,149 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,298,023. Shell has a twelve month low of $58.55 and a twelve month high of $74.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $197.98 billion, a PE ratio of 13.20, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $66.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $69.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $79.18 billion. Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Shell will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Shell announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $3.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the energy company to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Shell Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.32%. Shell's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.90%.

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.