Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) shares gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $36.18, but opened at $34.03. Equinor ASA shares last traded at $34.1730, with a volume of 1,016,313 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on EQNR. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Pareto Securities downgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equinor ASA has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.20.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $100.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.69, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $38.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.65.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $28.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.73 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 20.01% and a net margin of 5.30%. Equities analysts forecast that Equinor ASA will post 5.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is currently 58.72%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equinor ASA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mirabella Financial Services LLP acquired a new position in Equinor ASA in the third quarter valued at approximately $730,757,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Equinor ASA by 599.3% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,966,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,194,000 after buying an additional 11,112,362 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Equinor ASA by 30.2% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,759,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $384,227,000 after buying an additional 3,659,611 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Equinor ASA by 1,437.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,286,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,741,000 after buying an additional 2,137,642 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Equinor ASA during the third quarter worth approximately $21,366,000. 5.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equinor ASA Company Profile

Equinor ASA (NYSE: EQNR) is a Norway-based integrated energy company headquartered in Stavanger. Historically established as Statoil in the 1970s to develop Norway’s petroleum resources, the company changed its name to Equinor in 2018 to reflect a strategic shift toward a broader energy portfolio. Equinor’s operations span the full upstream value chain, including exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas, alongside trading and marketing activities that support its global commercial operations.

In recent years Equinor has pursued a transition strategy that combines continued development of conventional oil and gas resources with growing investments in low‑carbon energy.