Shell (NYSE:SHEL) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Shell (NYSE:SHEL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on SHEL. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Shell in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Bank of America cut shares of Shell from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Shell from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Shell from $89.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Shell from $78.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Shell currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.05.

Shell Stock Performance

SHEL opened at $91.16 on Friday. Shell has a twelve month low of $58.54 and a twelve month high of $92.95. The stock has a market cap of $258.16 billion, a PE ratio of 15.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.14. The business’s 50 day moving average is $80.78 and its 200-day moving average is $75.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The energy company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.21 by ($0.07). Shell had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The business had revenue of $64.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.82 billion. On average, analysts predict that Shell will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Shell

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SHEL. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Shell by 13.2% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,445,346 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $103,386,000 after buying an additional 167,983 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Shell by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 596,972 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $42,701,000 after acquiring an additional 3,084 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Shell by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 316,216 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $23,236,000 after acquiring an additional 677,746 shares during the period. Allied Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Shell by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Allied Investment Advisors LLC now owns 196,452 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $14,435,000 after acquiring an additional 4,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Shell by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 180,630 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $13,273,000 after purchasing an additional 42,129 shares during the period. 28.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shell News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Shell this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Company buy-back activity — Shell continued buying shares for cancellation as part of its Feb 5 buy-back program, purchasing roughly 3.6 million shares across European venues on March 23–24, shrinking float and supporting EPS. Transaction in Own Shares (24 March 2026)
• Positive Sentiment: Adura JV financing — Shell-Equinor JV Adura secured a $3 billion reserve-based lending facility, strengthening project-level liquidity for UK North Sea production and reducing near-term financing risk. Shell-Equinor JV Adura secures $3 billion lending facility
• Positive Sentiment: Supply-tightening comments could lift product margins — CEO Wael Sawan warned at CERAWeek that fuel-product supplies are tightening (Asia now, Europe potentially by April). Tighter refined-product markets can support refining margins and Shell’s integrated earnings. CERAWEEK Energy security key to national security, Shell CEO says
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary — The Zacks Analyst Blog flagged Shell among energy names in a volatile week driven by Middle East tensions and oil-market disruptions; useful context but not a direct catalyst. The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights Shell
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade — Morgan Stanley downgraded Shell from “overweight” to “equal weight,” a direct sell-side headwind that can pressure sentiment and reduce marginal demand for the stock. Finviz (Morgan Stanley downgrade)
• Negative Sentiment: Rising short interest — Short interest rose ~17.7% in March to about 10.3M shares (≈0.4% of float), increasing potential selling pressure and volatility despite a low days-to-cover (~1.3 days).
• Negative Sentiment: Operational risk in Middle East exposure — Reports that Iranian missile strikes heavily damaged a major gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in Qatar and Shell warnings about long-term LNG confidence highlight potential lost volumes and near-term revenue hit for global producers and trading operations. Iranian Missile Strikes Are Costing Big Oil Billions in Lost Revenue

About Shell

Shell plc (NYSE: SHEL) is a global integrated energy company that operates across the full oil and gas value chain as well as in developing lower-carbon energy solutions. The company traces its roots to the early 20th century merger of Royal Dutch Petroleum and Shell Transport and Trading, and today it is organized to explore for and produce hydrocarbons, process and refine them, manufacture petrochemicals, and market fuel, lubricants and related products under the Shell brand around the world.

Shell’s principal activities include upstream exploration and production of oil and natural gas, integrated gas operations including liquefied natural gas (LNG), and downstream refining, supply and marketing.