Earnest Partners LLC Has $94.77 Million Stock Holdings in Equinor ASA $EQNR

Earnest Partners LLC trimmed its stake in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) by 1.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,887,088 shares of the company’s stock after selling 59,579 shares during the quarter. Earnest Partners LLC’s holdings in Equinor ASA were worth $94,767,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE boosted 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 valued at $384,227,000 after buying an additional 3,659,611 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Equinor ASA by 1,437.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,286,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,741,000 after buying an additional 2,137,642 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 948,609 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its position in Equinor ASA by 38,151.0% during the third quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 511,799 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,478,000 after acquiring an additional 510,461 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Equinor ASA by 87.7% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 766,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,693,000 after acquiring an additional 358,339 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

Equinor ASA Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of EQNR opened at $35.29 on Friday. Equinor ASA has a 52 week low of $21.41 and a 52 week high of $35.67. The firm has a market cap of $103.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.21. Equinor ASA had a net margin of 4.74% and a return on equity of 15.23%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.31 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinor ASA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This is an increase from Equinor ASA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is 67.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Equinor ASA from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Bank of America cut Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Pareto Securities raised Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Equinor ASA in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Equinor ASA from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and eight have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $24.71.

About Equinor ASA

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.