Scotiabank Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Shell (NYSE:SHEL) Stock Price

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) had its price objective reduced by Scotiabank from $75.00 to $70.00 in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector outperform rating on the energy company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on SHEL. Wolfe Research raised Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Shell from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. UBS Group raised shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Shell currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.73.

Shell Stock Performance

SHEL opened at $62.05 on Friday. Shell has a 12-month low of $58.55 and a 12-month high of $74.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $187.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.27. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $67.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Shell will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.716 dividend. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Shell’s payout ratio is presently 56.97%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shell

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SHEL. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Shell by 11.3% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,183 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $803,000 after buying an additional 1,240 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Shell in the third quarter worth about $5,154,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Shell by 5.9% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 151,868 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $10,028,000 after purchasing an additional 8,499 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Shell by 37.0% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,594 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $369,000 after purchasing an additional 1,512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Shell during the 3rd quarter worth $2,552,000. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

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.