Shell (NYSE:SHEL) Raised to Hold at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Shell (NYSE:SHEL) to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

SHEL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Shell to a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Shell to a moderate buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Shell from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Shell in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued a peer perform rating for the company. Finally, Barclays upgraded Shell to a strong-buy rating in a report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Shell currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $83.50.

Shell Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SHEL opened at $68.50 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $216.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.64, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Shell has a 12 month low of $60.34 and a 12 month high of $74.61. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $69.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.80.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $88.62 billion. Shell had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 5.97%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.50 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Shell will post 8.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shell

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SHEL. CIBC Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Shell during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,526,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Shell by 102.2% in the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 90,152 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $5,932,000 after buying an additional 45,567 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Shell by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,092,458 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $137,684,000 after buying an additional 126,517 shares in the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd grew its stake in shares of Shell by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 20,000 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stamos Capital Partners L.P. grew its stake in shares of Shell by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Stamos Capital Partners L.P. now owns 173,540 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $11,419,000 after buying an additional 17,810 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

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.