Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Shares Gap Up to $27.10

Shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $27.10, but opened at $28.22. Equinor ASA shares last traded at $27.68, with a volume of 6,236,258 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $26.40 to $28.50 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. DZ Bank cut shares of Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Equinor ASA in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equinor ASA currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.25.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $86.48 billion, a PE ratio of 8.58, a PEG ratio of 8.12 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.53.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.44). The company had revenue of $29.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.35 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 19.78% and a net margin of 9.30%. On average, research analysts forecast that Equinor ASA will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio is 30.34%.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,774,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,974,000 after buying an additional 134,688 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 25.2% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 694,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,983,000 after buying an additional 139,952 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,284,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,241,000 after buying an additional 444,435 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in Equinor ASA by 89.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 45,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,485,000 after purchasing an additional 21,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Equinor ASA by 61.8% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 258,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,469,000 after purchasing an additional 98,786 shares during the last quarter. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.