Shell not moving fast enough for Morgan Stanley

Shell results have been below par for the past two quarters, said Morgan Stanley, with dividend growth and the share buyback both disappointing the bank's analysts.

Morgan Stanley downgraded its rating for the oil colossus to ‘equal weight’ from ‘overweight’, snipping its target price to 2,860p from 3,160p.

Shell’s quarterly results last week saw the launch of a $25bn (£19bn) share buyback, subject to debt reduction and oil prices, with the process beginning with a maximum of $2bn of shares bought in the next three months. The oil producer posted a 30% increase in second-quarter earnings to $4.7bn, which was less than analysts' average estimate of $6bn.

The company, which bought BG Group in 2016, has sold about $30bn of assets and cut costs since the oil slump to support earnings and cut net debt to $62.2bn at the end of June, down from £68.3bn a year earlier and $66.1bn at the end of March.

“Recent quarterly results have come in below our expectations,” Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note to client.

While free cash flow and gearing are still set to improve, it is no longer in a "differentiated manner", the analysts moaned.

"Dividend growth is now lagging peers, and the buyback has started but at a lower-than-expected pace."

As such, they feel their former overweight case was "no longer supported".