Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $28.25.

EQNR has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Equinor ASA from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. DZ Bank cut shares of Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $26.40 to $28.50 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Equinor ASA during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Equinor ASA by 136.4% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 629 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Equinor ASA by 66.4% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,271 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Avalon Trust Co purchased a new stake in Equinor ASA during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Samalin Investment Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in Equinor ASA during the first quarter worth $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

Equinor ASA stock opened at $27.31 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $85.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.98 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.60. Equinor ASA has a 1 year low of $24.44 and a 1 year high of $34.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $26.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.66.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 11.09%. The business had revenue of $29.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.35 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Equinor ASA will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinor ASA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.39%. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is currently 25.06%.

Equinor ASA Company Profile

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.