Barclays Upgrades Shell (NYSE:SHEL) to “Strong-Buy”

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) was upgraded by Barclays to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Shell from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Shell to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Berenberg Bank raised Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Argus increased their price objective on Shell from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Shell in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.50.

Shell Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE SHEL opened at $68.46 on Wednesday. Shell has a 12 month low of $60.34 and a 12 month high of $74.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50-day moving average of $70.00 and a 200-day moving average of $70.78.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The energy company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $75.06 billion during 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 earned $1.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Shell will post 8.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shell

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Shell by 21.0% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 44,896 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $3,009,000 after acquiring an additional 7,779 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Shell by 65.7% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,698,247 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $122,579,000 after buying an additional 673,624 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Shell by 11.3% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 292,587 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $21,119,000 after buying an additional 29,677 shares during the last quarter. Foresight Global Investors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Shell during the second quarter valued at $1,472,000. Finally, Norden Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Shell by 2,843.4% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 170,867 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $11,455,000 after buying an additional 165,062 shares during the last quarter. 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.