Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. DZ Bank raised Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Equinor ASA from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Pareto Securities lowered shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.20.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

EQNR stock opened at $38.48 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $113.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.06. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $35.67 and its 200 day moving average is $34.14. Equinor ASA has a 52 week low of $22.26 and a 52 week high of $43.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.18.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.06). Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 23.60% and a net margin of 7.92%.The business had revenue of $34.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.03 billion. Research analysts predict that Equinor ASA will post 4.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinor ASA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is presently 34.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equinor ASA

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Equinor ASA by 599.3% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,966,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $547,194,000 after buying an additional 11,112,362 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of 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 worth $384,227,000 after acquiring an additional 3,659,611 shares in the last quarter. DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equinor ASA in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $16,217,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 143.2% during the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 880,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,816,000 after purchasing an additional 518,646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,250,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,600,000 after purchasing an additional 493,801 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

About Equinor ASA

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.