Shell (NYSE:SHEL) Raised to Buy at UBS Group

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) was upgraded by research analysts at UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on SHEL. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Shell to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wolfe Research upgraded Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays upgraded Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.83.

Shell Stock Performance

NYSE:SHEL traded down $1.50 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $64.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,992,801 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,184,991. The firm has a market cap of $198.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 0.55. Shell has a 12 month low of $60.15 and a 12 month high of $74.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $64.50 and a 200-day moving average of $68.15.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shell

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Shell by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 65,298,943 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $4,306,465,000 after acquiring an additional 3,255,347 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Shell by 2.1% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,530,647 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,617,796,000 after purchasing an additional 507,311 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Shell by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 22,722,317 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,640,082,000 after buying an additional 96,549 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Shell by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,972,945 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $408,430,000 after buying an additional 55,637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in Shell by 8.7% in the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 5,282,868 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $348,405,000 after acquiring an additional 422,329 shares in the last quarter. 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.