Ethic Inc. Buys New Shares in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR)

Ethic Inc. bought a new stake in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 10,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Equinor ASA by 771.8% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,015,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,061,000 after acquiring an additional 899,157 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Equinor ASA by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 71,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,705,000 after buying an additional 4,468 shares during the period. Centiva Capital LP boosted its position in Equinor ASA by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 36,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $874,000 after buying an additional 4,573 shares during the period. Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Equinor ASA during the fourth quarter valued at about $257,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LP boosted its position in Equinor ASA by 84.4% during the fourth quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 118,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,795,000 after buying an additional 54,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on EQNR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Equinor ASA in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. HSBC upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Equinor ASA from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $22.70 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, May 12th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Danske upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.85.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

Equinor ASA stock opened at $23.62 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $23.87 and a 200-day moving average of $23.76. The firm has a market cap of $65.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.58. Equinor ASA has a 1-year low of $21.41 and a 1-year high of $29.32.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $27.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.16 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 8.49%. Sell-side analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 EPS for the current year.

Equinor ASA Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.304 dividend. This represents a $1.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is currently 38.29%.

Equinor ASA 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.