Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Reaches New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) shares hit a new 52-week high during 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 Analyst Weigh In

EQNR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Pareto Securities raised Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Equinor ASA from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Bank of America cut Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Zacks Research raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective 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 analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and eight have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $24.71.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $26.77 and a 200-day moving average of $24.90. The company has a market cap of $98.94 billion, a PE ratio of 17.68, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.35. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.21. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 15.23% and a net margin of 4.74%.The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.31 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinor ASA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This is an increase from Equinor ASA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is 64.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equinor ASA

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pure Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Equinor ASA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Equinor ASA by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 50,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Equinor ASA by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 120,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,851,000 after purchasing an additional 4,220 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Equinor ASA during the 4th quarter valued at $448,000. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 143.2% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 880,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,816,000 after purchasing an additional 518,646 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

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.