Morgan Stanley Upgrades Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) to Equal Weight

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) was upgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $25.80 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 5.65% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on EQNR. Barclays upgraded Equinor ASA to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Equinor ASA from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Citigroup raised Equinor ASA to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.90.

Equinor ASA Trading Down 4.8 %

Equinor ASA stock opened at $24.42 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $71.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.83. Equinor ASA has a 1 year low of $24.02 and a 1 year high of $34.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $26.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.06. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $25.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Equinor ASA will post 3.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EQNR. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Equinor ASA by 2,359.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,783,338 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,354,000 after acquiring an additional 6,507,511 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in Equinor ASA by 4.5% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,865,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,485,000 after buying an additional 166,131 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 1.4% in the second quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 862,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,635,000 after buying an additional 11,500 shares during the last quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC lifted its position 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 worth $16,343,000 after buying an additional 21,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 479,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,704,000 after acquiring an additional 2,894 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

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.