Shell (NYSE:SHEL) Stock Rating Upgraded by Citigroup

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

SHEL has been the subject of a number of other reports. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Shell to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Shell to a moderate buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Argus raised their price target on Shell from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Barclays raised Shell to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Shell in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set a peer perform rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $83.50.

Shell Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE SHEL opened at $68.46 on Wednesday. Shell has a 1-year low of $60.34 and a 1-year high of $74.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The business’s 50 day moving average is $70.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.63, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.57.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $75.06 billion for 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 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Shell will post 8.44 EPS for the current year.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.688 per share. This represents a $2.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Shell’s payout ratio is 50.74%.

Institutional Trading of Shell

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Farmers Trust Co. increased its position in Shell by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 6,485 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Shell during the third quarter valued at approximately $121,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in Shell by 721.4% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 116,644 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $8,419,000 after buying an additional 102,444 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Shell by 378.7% during the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 718 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell in the 2nd quarter valued at $10,505,000. 28.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.