Morgan Stanley Upgrades Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) to “Overweight”

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $30.90 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $25.80.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on EQNR. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays raised Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Equinor ASA to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.45.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

Shares of EQNR opened at $25.30 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Equinor ASA has a 52 week low of $21.85 and a 52 week high of $30.89. The stock has a market cap of $70.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.76, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.84.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.05. Equinor ASA had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 19.97%. The company had revenue of $25.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.35 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Equinor ASA in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Equinor ASA by 27.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 363.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 1,512 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank purchased a new position in shares of Equinor ASA in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,804 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. 5.51% of the stock is 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.