Shell (NYSE:SHEL) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of Shell (NYSE:SHEL) to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Argus lifted their target price on Shell from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Shell to a moderate buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Shell from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Shell from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Shell to a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $83.50.

Shell Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE SHEL opened at $68.46 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $216.47 billion, a PE ratio of 12.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.57. Shell has a 52 week low of $60.34 and a 52 week high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The energy company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $75.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.62 billion. Shell had a net margin of 5.97% and a return on equity of 14.56%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.50 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Shell will post 8.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $0.688 per share. This represents a $2.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Shell’s payout ratio is currently 50.74%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shell

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SHEL. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Shell during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Shell in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Shell by 611.1% in the 4th quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 448 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Shell during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Shell in the first quarter valued at $47,000. Hedge funds and other 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.