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

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday.

Several other research firms also recently commented on EQNR. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Redburn Atlantic raised Equinor ASA from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $25.80 to $30.90 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.45.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

Shares of EQNR opened at $24.02 on Tuesday. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.10. Equinor ASA has a 1-year low of $21.85 and a 1-year high of $29.49. The company has a market cap of $67.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.37, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $25.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.92 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Equinor ASA will post 3.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EQNR. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Equinor ASA by 6.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 230,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,576,000 after acquiring an additional 14,705 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Equinor ASA by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 416,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,898,000 after purchasing an additional 49,029 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in Equinor ASA by 21.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 32,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $913,000 after purchasing an additional 5,680 shares in the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC increased its stake in Equinor ASA by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 19,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $550,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Equinor ASA by 27.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

Equinor ASA Company Profile

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.