Morgan Stanley Upgrades Shell (NYSE:SHEL) to Overweight

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Shell (NYSE:SHEL) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $79.80 price target on the energy company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $66.50.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on SHEL. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Shell from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup raised shares of Shell to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Shell from $88.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.83.

Shell Stock Performance

Shares of SHEL stock opened at $65.98 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market cap of $203.04 billion, a PE ratio of 13.58, a PEG ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 0.55. Shell has a 12-month low of $60.15 and a 12-month high of $74.61. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.15.

Shell Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $0.688 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. Shell’s payout ratio is 56.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SHEL. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC increased its holdings in shares of Shell by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 3,741 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Foresight Global Investors Inc. purchased a new position in Shell in the second quarter valued at $1,472,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Shell by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 3,125,284 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $206,116,000 after acquiring an additional 46,293 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Shell by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 292,587 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $21,119,000 after acquiring an additional 29,677 shares during the period. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Shell by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 5,282,868 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $348,405,000 after purchasing an additional 422,329 shares during the period. 28.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.