Danske Upgrades Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) to Buy

Danske upgraded shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports 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. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Pareto Securities upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Nordea Equity Research upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $25.80 to $30.90 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.45.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

EQNR stock opened at $23.01 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $64.25 billion, a PE ratio of 7.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Equinor ASA has a 12 month low of $21.85 and a 12 month high of $29.32. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $23.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.87.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.19). Equinor ASA had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 19.97%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Equinor ASA will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinor ASA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.09%. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.89%.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EQNR. ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new stake in Equinor ASA in the 4th quarter valued at $9,043,000. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new stake in Equinor ASA in the 3rd quarter valued at $6,203,000. Drum Hill Capital LLC purchased a new position in Equinor ASA during the 4th quarter worth $4,023,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Equinor ASA during the 3rd quarter worth $3,685,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Equinor ASA by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,751,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,019,000 after buying an additional 132,157 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.