Sarasin & Partners LLP Raises Holdings in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR)

Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its holdings in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR - Free Report) by 35.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 547,576 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 141,949 shares during the quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP's holdings in Equinor ASA were worth $13,870,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EQNR. Folketrygdfondet lifted its position in Equinor ASA by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 111,466,079 shares of the company's stock worth $2,640,631,000 after buying an additional 4,300,472 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Equinor ASA by 3,159.0% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,649,389 shares of the company's stock worth $62,764,000 after buying an additional 2,568,095 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Equinor ASA by 958.7% in the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 1,447,536 shares of the company's stock worth $34,292,000 after buying an additional 1,310,812 shares during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 771.8% during the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,015,657 shares of the company's stock worth $24,061,000 after purchasing an additional 899,157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP lifted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 975.0% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 842,580 shares of the company's stock worth $19,961,000 after purchasing an additional 764,204 shares during the last quarter. 5.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQNR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Equinor ASA from a "sector perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Danske upgraded Equinor ASA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Berenberg Bank downgraded Equinor ASA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $26.44 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Equinor ASA to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Pareto Securities upgraded Equinor ASA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $22.71.

Equinor ASA Stock Up 1.0%

EQNR traded up $0.25 on Thursday, hitting $24.28. The company had a trading volume of 1,373,204 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,591,491. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.82. Equinor ASA has a 12-month low of $21.41 and a 12-month high of $29.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.58.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.17). Equinor ASA had a net margin of 8.49% and a return on equity of 20.33%. The company had revenue of $27.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $27.16 billion. Analysts predict that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.304 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.01%. Equinor ASA's payout ratio is 46.84%.

Equinor ASA Profile

Equinor ASA, an energy company, engages in the exploration, production, transportation, refining, and marketing of petroleum and other forms of energy in Norway and internationally. It operates through Exploration & Production Norway; Exploration & Production International; Exploration & Production USA; Marketing, Midstream & Processing; Renewables; and Other segments.