Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Lifted to Strong Sell at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) to a strong sell rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on EQNR. StockNews.com lowered Equinor ASA from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and lowered their target price for the company from $30.50 to $25.80 in a report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group raised shares of Equinor ASA from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays raised Equinor ASA to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on Equinor ASA from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $26.90.

Equinor ASA Stock Up 1.4 %

Equinor ASA stock opened at $27.12 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $79.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.40, a PEG ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.83. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $24.02 and a fifty-two week high of $34.73. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.13.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $25.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.93 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 20.65% and a net margin of 9.11%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinor ASA Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a — dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a yield of 4.1%. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.34%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Equinor ASA during the second quarter worth approximately $205,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 1.4% during the second quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 862,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,635,000 after purchasing an additional 11,500 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 52.7% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 69,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,991,000 after purchasing an additional 24,052 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 9.2% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 13,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $397,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167 shares during the period. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new position in shares of Equinor ASA in the second quarter valued at $1,085,000. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.