Folketrygdfondet Has $2.57 Billion Stock Holdings in Equinor ASA $EQNR

Folketrygdfondet trimmed its position in shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 105,446,508 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,817,738 shares during the quarter. Equinor ASA accounts for approximately 60.1% of Folketrygdfondet’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Folketrygdfondet owned approximately 3.58% of Equinor ASA worth $2,570,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC purchased a new stake in Equinor ASA during the second quarter valued at $36,000. MAI Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 55.6% during the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 2,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 30.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 2,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 639 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Equinor ASA in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $77,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 378.3% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 2,429 shares during the period. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equinor ASA Stock Up 2.6%

EQNR opened at $26.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $79.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $23.71 and its 200 day moving average is $24.28. Equinor ASA has a fifty-two week low of $21.41 and a fifty-two week high of $28.26.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.20). Equinor ASA had a net margin of 5.27% and a return on equity of 14.34%. The business had revenue of $26.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.26 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQNR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Equinor ASA in a report on Thursday, January 8th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Zacks Research lowered Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. DZ Bank cut Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Equinor ASA from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Equinor ASA from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and nine have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equinor ASA has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $22.71.

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.