Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Friday.

Separately, TD Cowen decreased their target price on Equinor ASA from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $28.25.

Equinor ASA Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:EQNR opened at $25.99 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $76.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $27.70 and its 200-day moving average is $27.39. Equinor ASA has a 52-week low of $24.44 and a 52-week high of $34.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.53.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 20.65% and a net margin of 9.11%. The business had revenue of $25.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Equinor ASA will post 3.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinor ASA Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is 35.29%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equinor ASA

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Equinor ASA by 0.7% during the second quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 56,658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,618,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Equinor ASA by 10.5% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 61,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,764,000 after purchasing an additional 5,882 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank bought a new position in shares of Equinor ASA in the second quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Equinor ASA in the second quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Cambiar Investors LLC raised its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 3.9% in the second quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC now owns 572,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,343,000 after acquiring an additional 21,469 shares during the last quarter. 5.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.