Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $35.63, but opened at $36.88. Equinor ASA shares last traded at $37.1040, with a volume of 927,713 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.40 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Equinor ASA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research cut Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Equinor ASA from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 29th. 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, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.70.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.39. The stock has a market cap of $109.00 billion, a PE ratio of 16.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $28.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.73 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 20.01% and a net margin of 5.30%. Research analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 4.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio is 58.72%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equinor ASA

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EQNR. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in Equinor ASA by 11.1% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 148,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,932,000 after buying an additional 14,913 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Equinor ASA in the first quarter valued at about $263,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Equinor ASA by 1.9% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 112,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,968,000 after acquiring an additional 2,112 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Equinor ASA during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $816,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 50.3% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,230 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,000 after acquiring an additional 1,751 shares during the period. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by 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.