Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,270,000 shares, a growth of 7.5% from the December 15th total of 14,200,000 shares. Currently, 0.6% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 3,540,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.3 days.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Equinor ASA in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 27.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC increased its holdings in Equinor ASA by 363.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 1,512 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Equinor ASA in the 4th quarter worth about $61,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Equinor ASA by 12.7% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,804 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the period. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQNR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic raised Equinor ASA from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays upgraded Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Morgan Stanley raised Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $25.80 to $30.90 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.45.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

Shares of EQNR stock traded down $0.12 on Friday, hitting $24.94. 3,389,610 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,144,319. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.65 billion, a PE ratio of 7.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $23.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.18. Equinor ASA has a one year low of $21.85 and a one year high of $29.49.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $25.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.45 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 19.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.92 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.