Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Shares Gap Up to $27.10

Shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $27.10, but opened at $28.22. Equinor ASA shares last traded at $27.68, with a volume of 6,236,258 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $26.40 to $28.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. DZ Bank lowered Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on Equinor ASA in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.25.

Equinor ASA Trading Up 2.8 %

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.71. The stock has a market cap of $86.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.14, a PEG ratio of 7.91 and a beta of 0.85.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.44). Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 11.09%. The business had revenue of $29.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.35 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Equinor ASA will post 3.33 EPS for the current year.

Equinor ASA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.31%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is 29.16%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equinor ASA

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in Equinor ASA by 1.5% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 24,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $805,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 4.4% in the third quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $314,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its position in Equinor ASA by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 10,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in Equinor ASA by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 37,489 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,186,000 after buying an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 180 Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 7.0% in the third quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Equinor ASA

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.