Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Equinor ASA to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised Equinor ASA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley raised Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $25.80 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Equinor ASA to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.90.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

Equinor ASA stock opened at $24.67 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market cap of $68.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.57, a P/E/G ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.84. Equinor ASA has a 1-year low of $22.15 and a 1-year high of $33.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $24.58 and a 200-day moving average of $26.35.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.05. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 19.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. The business had revenue of $25.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EQNR. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Equinor ASA by 2,359.3% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,783,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,354,000 after buying an additional 6,507,511 shares during the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new position in Equinor ASA in the 3rd quarter worth about $6,203,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Equinor ASA in the 2nd quarter worth about $5,271,000. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in Equinor ASA by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,865,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,485,000 after purchasing an additional 166,131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Equinor ASA by 1,334.9% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 176,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,055,000 after purchasing an additional 164,658 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.