Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Buys Shares of 19,274 Equinor ASA $EQNR

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 19,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EQNR. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 24.1% in the second quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC now owns 39,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $988,000 after buying an additional 7,630 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 26.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 136,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,442,000 after buying an additional 28,795 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Equinor ASA by 1,043.5% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 18,364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $462,000 after buying an additional 16,758 shares during the period. Logan Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 11.3% during the second quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. now owns 164,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,137,000 after buying an additional 16,727 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 140.4% in the 2nd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 570,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,346,000 after purchasing an additional 333,233 shares in the last quarter. 5.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

NYSE:EQNR opened at $24.70 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $24.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.66. Equinor ASA has a fifty-two week low of $21.41 and a fifty-two week high of $28.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.73 billion, a PE ratio of 11.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $26.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.26 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 14.11% and a net margin of 5.27%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a $0.37 dividend. This is an increase from Equinor ASA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is 57.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on EQNR. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Equinor ASA from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Equinor ASA in a report on Friday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res lowered Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley cut Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, DZ Bank lowered Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and eight have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $22.71.

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.