Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

A number of other analysts have also commented on EQNR. Weiss Ratings upgraded Equinor ASA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. DZ Bank raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 25th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Equinor ASA from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.20.

Equinor ASA Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE EQNR opened at $42.37 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.04. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.10. Equinor ASA has a one year low of $22.26 and a one year high of $43.46.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $34.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.03 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 23.60% and a net margin of 7.92%. Research analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinor ASA Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 16th. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is currently 34.88%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Equinor ASA during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position 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 bought a new position in shares of Equinor ASA during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 1,794.0% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 86.2% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.