Scotiabank Cuts Shell (NYSE:SHEL) Price Target to $70.00

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

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on SHEL. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Shell in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Shell currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $77.73.

Shell Stock Performance

NYSE:SHEL opened at $62.05 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $67.56 and a 200-day moving average of $66.20. Shell has a twelve month low of $58.55 and a twelve month high of $74.61. The firm has a market cap of $187.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.27.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 forecast that Shell will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.716 per share. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.97%.

Institutional Trading of Shell

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pines Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Shell by 7.0% during the first quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $866,000 after buying an additional 768 shares during the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Shell by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,788 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,059 shares during the last quarter. Oxinas Partners Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Shell in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Choice Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Shell during the first quarter worth approximately $218,000. Finally, Foster Group Inc. grew its holdings in Shell by 18.4% during the first quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 4,018 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $294,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is owned by 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.