Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Shell (NYSE:SHEL) Stock

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) had its target price upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $87.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the energy company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on SHEL. UBS Group raised shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen began coverage on Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. 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 Securities increased their price target on shares of Shell from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $80.10.

Shell Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:SHEL opened at $72.74 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.95 billion, a PE ratio of 14.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $67.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.41. Shell has a 1 year low of $60.15 and a 1 year high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. Analysts predict that Shell will post 7.67 EPS 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 represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.97%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shell

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SHEL. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Shell by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 86,417,177 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $5,414,036,000 after purchasing an additional 21,118,234 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC grew its position in Shell by 170.3% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 3,463,372 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $216,980,000 after buying an additional 2,182,253 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Shell in the 4th quarter valued at $91,716,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Shell in the 4th quarter worth $83,204,000. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Shell by 29.8% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 3,773,617 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $248,870,000 after acquiring an additional 866,954 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.