Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Hits New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $33.03 and last traded at $32.87, with a volume of 2255150 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $31.76.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America downgraded Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Equinor ASA from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Pareto Securities upgraded Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Zacks Research raised Equinor ASA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Equinor ASA from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and eight have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $24.71.

Equinor ASA Trading Up 4.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.27. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.53 billion, a PE ratio of 17.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.35.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.31 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This is a boost from Equinor ASA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equinor ASA

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQNR. Pure Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Equinor ASA during the fourth quarter valued at $200,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 50,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,188,000 after acquiring an additional 844 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 3.6% in 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 in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Equinor ASA during the 4th quarter valued at about $448,000. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Equinor ASA by 143.2% during the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 880,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,816,000 after acquiring an additional 518,646 shares in the last quarter. 5.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equinor ASA Company Profile

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.