Earnest Partners LLC Has $94.77 Million Holdings in Equinor ASA $EQNR

Earnest Partners LLC lessened its stake in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,887,088 shares of the company’s stock after selling 59,579 shares during the quarter. Earnest Partners LLC owned about 0.13% of Equinor ASA worth $94,767,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQNR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 1,437.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,286,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,137,642 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Equinor ASA by 2.2% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,827,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,550,000 after purchasing an additional 39,524 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Equinor ASA by 30.5% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 108,633 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,731,000 after purchasing an additional 25,361 shares during the period. ABC Arbitrage SA boosted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 100.8% during the third quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 515,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,569,000 after purchasing an additional 258,767 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equinor ASA in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,515,000. Institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

Equinor ASA Trading Up 2.7%

NYSE:EQNR opened at $35.29 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $103.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.35. Equinor ASA has a twelve month low of $21.41 and a twelve month high of $35.67. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $27.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Equinor ASA had a net margin of 4.74% and a return on equity of 15.23%. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.31 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is a boost from Equinor ASA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is presently 67.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on EQNR shares. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Equinor ASA from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Pareto Securities upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Equinor ASA in a report on Thursday, January 8th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $24.71.

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.