Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Shares Up 6.5% – Still a Buy?

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR)’s share price shot up 6.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $36.17 and last traded at $36.1190. 3,407,923 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 5,889,323 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.92.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Zacks Research cut Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.40 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.70.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $106.62 billion, a PE ratio of 16.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.06. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $35.68 and its 200-day moving average is $33.21.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.47. Equinor ASA had a net margin of 5.30% and a return on equity of 20.01%. The firm had revenue of $28.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.73 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Equinor ASA will post 4.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.72%.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

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

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.