Shell (NYSE:SHEL) Price Target Cut to $79.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) had its price target cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $80.00 to $79.00 in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the energy company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on SHEL. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Shell from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Shell from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Shell from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.11.

Shell Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SHEL opened at $71.00 on Thursday. Shell has a twelve month low of $58.55 and a twelve month high of $74.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $67.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.47. The stock has a market cap of $211.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.39.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.30. Shell had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 4.75%. The business had revenue of $69.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Shell will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $3.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the energy company to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Shell Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.03%. Shell’s payout ratio is currently 65.90%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shell

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SHEL. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Shell during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Avalon Trust Co acquired a new position in Shell during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. raised its stake in Shell by 103.4% during the 1st quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 356 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Shell during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC raised its stake in Shell by 102.9% during the 1st quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 420 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.