What analysts are saying about shares in Royal Dutch Shell

Analysts have been under intense pressure in recent months as they try to make sense of the impact of Covid-19 on companies like Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSB).

As one of just 200 shares in the UK market valued at more than £1.0 billion (its market cap is £131,740m), Royal Dutch Shell is well covered by analysts who will know better than most how the economic conditions will affect it. 

So how have the shares performed over the past year?

On a 12 month basis, the Royal Dutch Shell share price has seen an absolute move of 84.8%. On a relative basis - which take into account the movement of the wider market - the shares have moved by 52.6% over the past year and by 19.5% over the past six months.

But what now?

Do analysts rate it as a buy, sell or hold?

Regardless of recent performance, the main question is what the future holds. In uncertain economic conditions, it's often difficult to get an accurate view. The good news is that analysts generally have a solid understanding of the market's biggest businesses, so they are well-placed to make predictions. That shows up in their Buy, Hold and Sell recommendations.

Among the analysts covering Royal Dutch Shell, there are currently:

• 5 Buy recommendations
• 5 Hold recommendations
• 0 Sell recommendations

With this kind of information, it's possible to start forming a view about the outlook for any share. A combination of recent price performance and analyst recommendations gives you a flavour of whether the market is expecting a bright future - or whether there are causes for concern.

It's also worth looking at the profile of the stock to understand whether it has strong positive exposure to important factors like Quality, Value and Momentum. On that basis, Stockopedia currently classifies Royal Dutch Shell as a super stock. You can read more about what that means here.

What does this mean for potential investors?

Shell is one of the most closely watched shares in the market. But while price trends and broker recommendations can give you an idea about the sentiment around a stock, they can't tell you everything. 

To get a better understanding of the overall investment case, it's worth doing some investigation yourself. Indeed, we've identified some areas of concern with Shell that you can find out about here.