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

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $25.80 price target on the stock.

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

Equinor ASA Price Performance

NYSE:EQNR opened at $25.65 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market capitalization of $75.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.83. Equinor ASA has a 12 month low of $24.02 and a 12 month high of $34.73. The business’s 50-day moving average is $26.06 and its 200 day moving average is $27.08.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.84 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 company had revenue of $25.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Equinor ASA will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Cuts Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equinor ASA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised 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 last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised 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 last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in Equinor ASA by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 862,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,635,000 after acquiring an additional 11,500 shares during the last quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC raised its stake in Equinor ASA by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC now owns 572,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,343,000 after acquiring an additional 21,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Equinor ASA by 0.6% in 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 during 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.