Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $38.27, but opened at $35.17. Equinor ASA shares last traded at $34.8620, with a volume of 1,995,594 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EQNR. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. UBS Group raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Equinor ASA from $25.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Zacks Research raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.40 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equinor ASA has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $34.61.

Equinor ASA Trading Down 7.4%

The firm has a market capitalization of $104.31 billion, a PE ratio of 18.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $34.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $25.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.31 billion. Equinor ASA had a net margin of 4.74% and a return on equity of 15.23%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This is a positive change from Equinor ASA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio is 64.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equinor ASA

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mirabella Financial Services LLP purchased a new position in Equinor ASA during the third quarter valued at approximately $730,757,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Equinor ASA by 30.2% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,759,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $384,227,000 after purchasing an additional 3,659,611 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Equinor ASA by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,250,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,600,000 after purchasing an additional 493,801 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in Equinor ASA by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 4,288,512 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,338,000 after purchasing an additional 401,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Equinor ASA by 0.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,852,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,923,000 after purchasing an additional 25,250 shares during the last quarter. 5.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.