Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Wall Street Zen

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

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on EQNR. Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of Equinor ASA from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research cut Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 25th. DZ Bank upgraded Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen boosted 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Equinor ASA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.20.

Equinor ASA Stock Down 1.5%

EQNR stock opened at $38.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.18. The company has a market capitalization of $92.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.59, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.04. Equinor ASA has a fifty-two week low of $22.26 and a fifty-two week high of $43.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $35.94 and a 200-day moving average of $35.04.

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

Equinor ASA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 16th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 16th. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is 34.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equinor ASA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EQNR. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Equinor ASA in the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 130.2% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in shares of Equinor ASA during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 1,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 86.2% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

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.