Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $24.28, but opened at $23.34. Equinor ASA shares last traded at $23.2850, with a volume of 1,287,083 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on EQNR. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of Equinor ASA in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Hsbc Global Res cut Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Pareto Securities lowered shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Equinor ASA from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and eight have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $22.71.

Equinor ASA Trading Down 4.0%

The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $24.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.61 billion, a PE ratio of 11.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.48.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.20). The business had revenue of $26.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.26 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 14.11% and a net margin of 5.27%. Analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinor ASA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This is a boost from Equinor ASA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.4%. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.35%.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mirabella Financial Services LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Equinor ASA during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $730,757,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,759,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $384,227,000 after acquiring an additional 3,659,611 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Equinor ASA by 1,437.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,286,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,137,642 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in Equinor ASA by 8,986.2% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,260,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246,203 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Equinor ASA by 113.0% during the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,787,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,945,000 after purchasing an additional 948,609 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

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.