Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Raised to “Buy” at Pareto Securities

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) was upgraded by stock analysts at Pareto Securities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $25.80 to $30.90 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.45.

Equinor ASA Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of EQNR stock opened at $23.58 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $23.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.85. Equinor ASA has a fifty-two week low of $21.85 and a fifty-two week high of $29.32.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 predict that Equinor ASA will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equinor ASA

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Inspire Advisors LLC raised its position in Equinor ASA by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 23,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $552,000 after buying an additional 2,159 shares during the last quarter. Folketrygdfondet raised its position in Equinor ASA by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 111,466,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,640,631,000 after buying an additional 4,300,472 shares during the last quarter. Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Equinor ASA during the 4th quarter worth $485,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Equinor ASA during the 4th quarter worth $909,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 62.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 62,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,486,000 after purchasing an additional 24,090 shares during the period. 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.