Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) has been assigned an average rating of “Reduce” from the nine analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $26.90.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays upgraded shares of Equinor ASA to a “hold” rating in a research 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. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $25.80 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Equinor ASA to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQNR opened at $22.83 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $63.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.00, a PEG ratio of 5.20 and a beta of 0.84. Equinor ASA has a 52 week low of $22.15 and a 52 week high of $33.63. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $25.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.66.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.05. Equinor ASA had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 19.97%. The firm had revenue of $25.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.92 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Equinor ASA will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EQNR. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Equinor ASA by 2,359.3% in the 1st 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 during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new stake in Equinor ASA in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,203,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Equinor ASA in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,271,000. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in Equinor ASA by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,865,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,485,000 after acquiring an additional 166,131 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in 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 during the period. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.