Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Receives $34.61 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” by the seventeen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $34.6133.

Several analysts have recently commented on EQNR shares. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Equinor ASA from $25.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley raised Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.40 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised Equinor ASA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Bank of America downgraded Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EQNR. Mirabella Financial Services LLP bought a new stake in Equinor ASA in the 3rd quarter valued at $730,757,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Equinor ASA by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,759,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $384,227,000 after acquiring an additional 3,659,611 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Equinor ASA by 1,437.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,286,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,137,642 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in Equinor ASA in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $21,366,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in Equinor ASA in the 4th quarter worth approximately $16,217,000. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equinor ASA Stock Down 0.1%

EQNR opened at $35.42 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Equinor ASA has a 1-year low of $21.96 and a 1-year high of $43.46. The company has a market capitalization of $104.31 billion, a PE ratio of 18.64, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.13. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.88.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.21. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 15.23% and a net margin of 4.74%.The firm had revenue of $25.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.31 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 EPS for the current year.

Equinor ASA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. This is an increase from Equinor ASA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is presently 64.21%.

About Equinor ASA

Equinor ASA (NYSE: EQNR) is a Norway-based integrated energy company headquartered in Stavanger. Historically established as Statoil in the 1970s to develop Norway’s petroleum resources, the company changed its name to Equinor in 2018 to reflect a strategic shift toward a broader energy portfolio. Equinor’s operations span the full upstream value chain, including exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas, alongside trading and marketing activities that support its global commercial operations.

In recent years Equinor has pursued a transition strategy that combines continued development of conventional oil and gas resources with growing investments in low‑carbon energy.