Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Friday.

Separately, TD Cowen dropped their target price on Equinor ASA from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $28.25.

Equinor ASA Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of EQNR opened at $25.99 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $27.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.39. The stock has a market cap of $76.52 billion, a PE ratio of 8.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.84. Equinor ASA has a 12 month low of $24.44 and a 12 month high of $34.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.43.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 20.65% and a net margin of 9.11%. The business had revenue of $25.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Equinor ASA will post 3.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is currently 35.29%.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its stake in Equinor ASA by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 10,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 56,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,618,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 37,489 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,186,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the period. Balentine LLC raised its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 7,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 18,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $517,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

About Equinor ASA

Equinor ASA, an energy company, engages in the exploration, production, transportation, refining, and marketing of petroleum and other forms of energy in Norway and internationally. It operates through Exploration & Production Norway; Exploration & Production International; Exploration & Production USA; Marketing, Midstream & Processing; Renewables; and Other segments.