Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equinor ASA in a research report on Monday, December 29th. DZ Bank cut Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Equinor ASA in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and ten have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equinor ASA has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $22.71.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

Shares of EQNR stock opened at $23.50 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $23.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.31. Equinor ASA has a 12-month low of $21.41 and a 12-month high of $28.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $69.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.36.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.20). Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 14.34% and a net margin of 5.27%.The firm had revenue of $26.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.26 billion. Analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.3%. This is a boost from Equinor ASA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio is 57.82%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EQNR. McIlrath & Eck LLC bought a new stake in Equinor ASA in the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. New Millennium Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equinor ASA in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $57,000. MAI Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 55.6% in the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 2,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 30.4% in the second quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 2,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 639 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in Equinor ASA by 378.3% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 2,429 shares during the period. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.