Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Given Consensus Rating of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) has received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $28.25.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $26.40 to $28.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Equinor ASA from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, DZ Bank cut shares of Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equinor ASA

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 6,737.6% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 139,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,240,000 after buying an additional 137,650 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 26,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,001,000 after buying an additional 2,342 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equinor ASA in the 1st quarter worth about $295,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equinor ASA in the 1st quarter worth about $107,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equinor ASA in the 1st quarter worth about $404,000. 5.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

Shares of Equinor ASA stock opened at $27.31 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.98 and a beta of 0.85. Equinor ASA has a 12 month low of $24.44 and a 12 month high of $34.73. 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 (NYSE:EQNR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.44). The business had revenue of $29.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.35 billion. Equinor ASA had a net margin of 11.09% and a return on equity of 20.32%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Equinor ASA will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinor ASA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.06%.

About Equinor ASA

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.