Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.70.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on EQNR. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.40 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Zacks Research cut shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 25th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Equinor ASA from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Pareto Securities cut shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQNR opened at $31.39 on Wednesday. Equinor ASA has a twelve month low of $22.26 and a twelve month high of $43.46. The firm has a market cap of $92.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.40, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.03. The company has a 50 day moving average of $36.71 and a 200 day moving average of $32.45. 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 (NYSE:EQNR) last announced 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 company had revenue of $28.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.73 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 5.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is presently 58.72%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mirabella Financial Services LLP bought a new stake in Equinor ASA during the third quarter valued at approximately $7,314,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Equinor ASA by 1,437.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,286,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,741,000 after buying an additional 2,137,642 shares during the period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in Equinor ASA during the third quarter valued at approximately $21,366,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Equinor ASA by 2.2% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,827,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,550,000 after buying an additional 39,524 shares during the period. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC grew its position in Equinor ASA by 31.6% during the third quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 270,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,598,000 after buying an additional 65,002 shares during the period. 5.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.