Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Lowered to “Buy” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Equinor ASA to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $25.80 target price for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Barclays raised Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Equinor ASA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.90.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

Equinor ASA stock opened at $25.20 on Friday. Equinor ASA has a fifty-two week low of $21.85 and a fifty-two week high of $32.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.48. The stock has a market cap of $70.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $23.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.39.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $25.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.45 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 19.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQNR. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Equinor ASA during the third quarter valued at about $6,203,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 1,334.9% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 176,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,055,000 after acquiring an additional 164,658 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Equinor ASA in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,685,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 3.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,751,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,019,000 after purchasing an additional 132,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC bought a new position in Equinor ASA in the second quarter worth $3,388,000. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.