Equinor ASA Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:EQNR)

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders purchased 5,193 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 24% compared to the typical volume of 4,196 put options.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQNR. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in Equinor ASA during the 4th quarter valued at about $499,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 50,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,185,000 after buying an additional 723 shares in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Equinor ASA during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Equinor ASA by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 120,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,851,000 after acquiring an additional 4,220 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Equinor ASA in the 4th quarter worth approximately $448,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on EQNR. UBS Group raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings raised Equinor ASA from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Zacks Research upgraded Equinor ASA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Pareto Securities raised Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Equinor ASA in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and seven have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equinor ASA has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $28.71.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

EQNR traded down $3.07 on Monday, hitting $38.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,187,099 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,054,983. Equinor ASA has a 12 month low of $21.41 and a 12 month high of $42.06. The firm has a market cap of $113.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.26 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.71.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.31 billion. Equinor ASA had a net margin of 4.74% and a return on equity of 15.23%. Analysts forecast that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 EPS for the current year.

Equinor ASA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This is a positive change from Equinor ASA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.21%.

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.