TD Cowen Raises Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Price Target to $28.00

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) had its price target hoisted by TD Cowen from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. DZ Bank lowered Equinor ASA from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Equinor ASA from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Equinor ASA from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and increased their target price for the stock from $26.40 to $28.50 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Equinor ASA from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $28.25.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQNR opened at $28.07 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.90. Equinor ASA has a 1-year low of $24.44 and a 1-year high of $34.73. The firm has a market cap of $87.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.18 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.44). Equinor ASA had a net margin of 11.09% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The firm had revenue of $29.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.35 billion. Analysts anticipate that Equinor ASA will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinor ASA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.28%. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.16%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 1.5% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 24,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $805,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 4.4% in the third quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 10,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 16.0% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,971 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 4.4% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 10,172 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 427 shares during the last quarter. 5.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.