Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Receives $79.11 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Buy" from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $79.11.

Several equities analysts recently commented on SHEL shares. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Shell from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Shell from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Shell from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th.

Institutional Trading of Shell

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Shell by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 86,417,177 shares of the energy company's stock worth $5,414,036,000 after buying an additional 21,118,234 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Shell by 1.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Shell by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,982,817 shares of the energy company's stock worth $500,123,000 after buying an additional 238,705 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Shell by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,023,173 shares of the energy company's stock worth $377,352,000 after buying an additional 50,228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 422,329 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company's stock.

Shell Stock Down 2.5 %

Shell stock traded down $1.71 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $66.67. 3,329,605 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,032,474. The company has a market cap of $202.75 billion, a PE ratio of 13.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $64.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.84. Shell has a 12 month low of $60.15 and a 12 month high of $74.61. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. As a group, analysts expect that Shell will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.716 dividend. This is a positive change from Shell's previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Shell's dividend payout ratio is presently 56.97%.

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.