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

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Buy" from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $77.35.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank cut their price target on Shell from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Shell from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shell

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Shell by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 86,417,177 shares of the energy company's stock worth $5,414,036,000 after purchasing an additional 21,118,234 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Shell by 170.3% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 3,463,372 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $216,980,000 after purchasing an additional 2,182,253 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Shell during the 4th quarter worth approximately $91,716,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in Shell in the fourth quarter valued at $83,204,000. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund acquired a new position in shares of Shell during the first quarter worth about $63,721,000. 28.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shell Stock Up 1.0 %

Shell stock traded up $0.63 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $65.71. The stock had a trading volume of 1,874,788 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,036,612. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $66.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.86. Shell has a 12-month low of $58.54 and a 12-month high of $74.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $197.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Shell Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.36%. Shell's dividend payout ratio is presently 65.90%.

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

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.