HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 224,496 Shares of Equinor ASA $EQNR

HighTower Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) by 66.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 113,255 shares of the company’s stock after selling 224,496 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Equinor ASA were worth $2,676,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 1.2% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 37,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $910,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 5.0% during the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 1.1% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 39,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $952,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,148 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 0.9% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 54,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,317,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQNR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded Equinor ASA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Zacks Research downgraded Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.40 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equinor ASA has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.20.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

EQNR opened at $35.97 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market cap of $105.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.03. Equinor ASA has a 12-month low of $22.26 and a 12-month high of $43.46.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.47. The business 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 predict that Equinor ASA will post 5.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.72%.

Equinor ASA 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.