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

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) shares hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $28.28 and last traded at $28.3910, with a volume of 50098 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $27.86.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Equinor ASA from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Equinor ASA from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Pareto Securities raised Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Zacks Research upgraded Equinor ASA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of Equinor ASA in a report on Friday, October 31st. One investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $24.71.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $24.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.32. The stock has a market cap of $83.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.94, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.38.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.31 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 15.23% and a net margin of 4.74%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 EPS for the current year.

Equinor ASA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. This is an increase from Equinor ASA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is currently 64.21%.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mirabella Financial Services LLP bought a new position in Equinor ASA in the third quarter worth approximately $730,757,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,759,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $384,227,000 after buying an additional 3,659,611 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 1,437.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,286,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,741,000 after buying an additional 2,137,642 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 113.0% during the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,787,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,945,000 after buying an additional 948,609 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Equinor ASA in the third quarter valued at about $21,366,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

Equinor ASA Company Profile

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.