Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Makes New Investment in Equinor ASA $EQNR

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 207,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,745,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Compound Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equinor ASA in the 1st quarter worth $410,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Equinor ASA by 599.3% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,966,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,194,000 after acquiring an additional 11,112,362 shares during the period. Gibbs Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Equinor ASA during the first quarter worth about $1,189,000. Lido Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Equinor ASA during the first quarter worth about $239,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 98,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,643 shares during the period. 5.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Equinor ASA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Equinor ASA from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.20.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

EQNR stock opened at $38.48 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $113.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.18. Equinor ASA has a 1 year low of $22.26 and a 1 year high of $43.46. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.14.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $34.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.03 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 23.60% and a net margin of 7.92%. On average, equities analysts predict that Equinor ASA will post 4.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.88%.

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.