Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Downgraded by Royal Bank of Canada to "Underperform"

Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR - Free Report) from a sector perform rating to an underperform rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Equinor ASA to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. HSBC upgraded Equinor ASA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Nordea Equity Research upgraded Equinor ASA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Equinor ASA from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Equinor ASA from $30.90 to $28.20 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $28.10.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

Shares of EQNR traded down $0.29 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $22.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,448,516 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,488,157. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Equinor ASA has a one year low of $21.41 and a one year high of $29.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.58. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $23.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.94.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR - Get Free Report) last released 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 net margin of 8.49% and a return on equity of 20.33%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.304 dividend. This represents a $1.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Equinor ASA's payout ratio is presently 38.91%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equinor ASA

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA bought a new position in Equinor ASA in the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,043,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Equinor ASA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $909,000. Folketrygdfondet increased its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 111,466,079 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,640,631,000 after acquiring an additional 4,300,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 11.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 94,267 shares of the company's stock worth $2,388,000 after purchasing an additional 9,512 shares during the period. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equinor ASA Company Profile

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.