Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Plans $0.35 Quarterly Dividend

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, January 27th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.35 per share on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th.

Equinor ASA has increased its dividend payment by an average of 34.1% per year over the last three years. Equinor ASA has a payout ratio of 42.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Equinor ASA to earn $3.05 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 45.9%.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

Equinor ASA stock opened at $24.72 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.80. Equinor ASA has a 52-week low of $21.85 and a 52-week high of $29.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.38.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by ($0.19). Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 8.49%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Equinor ASA will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Redburn Atlantic raised Equinor ASA from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley raised Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $25.80 to $30.90 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com cut Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Danske raised Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.45.

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.