Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Short Interest Down 6.3% in September

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,830,000 shares, a decrease of 6.3% from the August 31st total of 13,690,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,820,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.5 days. Approximately 0.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on EQNR shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $30.50 to $25.80 in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Equinor ASA from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.90.

Equinor ASA Stock Up 2.6 %

EQNR opened at $26.00 on Wednesday. Equinor ASA has a 12 month low of $24.02 and a 12 month high of $34.73. The business has a 50-day moving average of $26.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.83.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $25.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.93 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 20.65% and a net margin of 9.11%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinor ASA Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a — dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a yield of 4.1%. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.34%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equinor ASA

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in Equinor ASA by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 473,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,980,000 after purchasing an additional 26,914 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lifted its position in Equinor ASA by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 10,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Equinor ASA by 39.3% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,045,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,105,000 after acquiring an additional 295,162 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Equinor ASA by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,432,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,596,000 after acquiring an additional 285,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Fund Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 301.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 274,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,693,000 after purchasing an additional 206,234 shares during the period. 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.