R Squared Ltd Buys Shares of 26,061 Equinor ASA $EQNR

R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 26,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $635,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of EQNR. McIlrath & Eck LLC purchased a new stake in Equinor ASA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. MAI Capital Management increased its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 55.6% during the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 2,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equinor ASA during the third quarter valued at about $57,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equinor ASA in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 378.3% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 2,429 shares during the last quarter. 5.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equinor ASA Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE EQNR opened at $28.94 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $85.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.23, a PEG ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.38. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.59. Equinor ASA has a 12-month low of $21.41 and a 12-month high of $29.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion for 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, equities analysts predict that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.39 dividend. 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 yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is presently 64.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on EQNR. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of Equinor ASA in a research note on Friday, October 31st. TD Cowen increased their target price on Equinor ASA from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Pareto Securities upgraded Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Equinor ASA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and eight have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $24.71.

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.