Equinor ASA Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:EQNR)

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 6,095 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 15% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,301 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equinor ASA

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Equinor ASA during the fourth quarter worth about $4,734,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Equinor ASA by 38.5% in the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 125,044 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after buying an additional 34,757 shares in the last quarter. DJE Kapital AG purchased a new position in Equinor ASA in the first quarter valued at about $2,913,000. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equinor ASA during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $8,582,000. Finally, John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 58.7% during the 4th quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 128,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,044,000 after acquiring an additional 47,650 shares during the period. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equinor ASA Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Equinor ASA stock opened at $40.38 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.96. Equinor ASA has a 52-week low of $22.26 and a 52-week high of $43.46. The firm has a market cap of $118.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.06.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.06). Equinor ASA had a net margin of 7.92% and a return on equity of 23.60%. The business had revenue of $34.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.03 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Equinor ASA will post 4.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinor ASA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.88%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on EQNR. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Equinor ASA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note 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. Wall Street Zen raised Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Pareto Securities lowered shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.20.

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.