Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the fourteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $41.20.

EQNR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.40 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Pareto Securities lowered shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 25th.

Equinor ASA Stock Down 1.8%

EQNR stock opened at $36.96 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Equinor ASA has a fifty-two week low of $22.26 and a fifty-two week high of $43.46. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.13. The stock has a market cap of $108.83 billion, a PE ratio of 16.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.03.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.47. Equinor ASA had a net margin of 5.30% and a return on equity of 20.01%. The business had revenue of $28.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.73 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Equinor ASA will post 5.1 EPS for the current year.

Equinor ASA Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.72%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equinor ASA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mirabella Financial Services LLP bought a new position in Equinor ASA in the 3rd quarter valued at about $730,757,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Equinor ASA by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,759,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $384,227,000 after buying an additional 3,659,611 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Equinor ASA by 599.3% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,966,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,194,000 after buying an additional 11,112,362 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Equinor ASA by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,250,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,600,000 after buying an additional 493,801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in Equinor ASA by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 4,288,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,338,000 after buying an additional 401,424 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

Equinor ASA Company Profile

Equinor ASA (NYSE: EQNR) is a Norway-based integrated energy company headquartered in Stavanger. Historically established as Statoil in the 1970s to develop Norway’s petroleum resources, the company changed its name to Equinor in 2018 to reflect a strategic shift toward a broader energy portfolio. Equinor’s operations span the full upstream value chain, including exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas, alongside trading and marketing activities that support its global commercial operations.

In recent years Equinor has pursued a transition strategy that combines continued development of conventional oil and gas resources with growing investments in low‑carbon energy.