Shell (NYSE:SHEL) Sets New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR (NYSE:SHEL)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Piper Sandler raised their price target on the stock from $87.00 to $90.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Shell traded as high as $76.67 and last traded at $76.6320, with a volume of 2704948 shares. The stock had previously closed at $75.59.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on SHEL. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Shell from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. BNP Paribas raised Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Shell from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Shell from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.91.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shell

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Shell by 42,743.3% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 2,867,929 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $210,162,000 after purchasing an additional 2,861,235 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Shell in the 1st quarter worth $180,366,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Shell by 102.6% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 2,965,812 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $217,335,000 after acquiring an additional 1,501,866 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Shell by 2,096.7% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,217,115 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $89,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Shell by 21.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,571,809 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $481,582,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150,198 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $222.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.23, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The energy company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $68.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.50 billion. Shell had a return on equity of 10.67% and a net margin of 4.93%. As a group, research analysts predict that Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is 58.61%.

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.