Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Stock Rating Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Berenberg Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Equinor ASA in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Equinor ASA in a report on Wednesday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Morningstar cut shares of Equinor ASA to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Equinor ASA from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.47.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

NYSE:EQNR opened at $48.86 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $116.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.13. Equinor ASA has a 52-week low of $22.26 and a 52-week high of $49.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $43.46 and a 200 day moving average of $39.42. 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 earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $34.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.03 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 23.60% and a net margin of 7.92%. On average, research analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 5.60 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 16th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equinor ASA

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equinor ASA in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 130.2% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in Equinor ASA in the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Equinor ASA in the 1st quarter worth $79,000. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC raised its position in Equinor ASA by 1,581.9% in the 2nd quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 2,009 shares during the period. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Equinor ASA

Equinor ASA is a Norwegian energy company headquartered in Stavanger, Norway. Founded in 1972 as Den norske stats oljeselskap, the company was later known as Statoil and StatoilHydro before adopting the Equinor name in 2018. The Norwegian state remains its largest shareholder.

Equinor’s core business is the exploration, development, production and marketing of oil and natural gas, with Norway’s continental shelf serving as its principal operating area. The company also processes and markets energy products and supplies natural gas and crude oil to customers in Europe and other international markets.

In addition to its oil and gas operations, Equinor is developing lower-carbon energy businesses, including offshore wind, solar power, carbon capture and storage, and other renewable energy projects.