Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 44,180 Shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR)

Van ECK Associates Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,032,260 shares of the company’s stock after selling 44,180 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Equinor ASA were worth $32,661,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Equinor ASA by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,774,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,974,000 after buying an additional 134,688 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 25.2% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 694,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,983,000 after purchasing an additional 139,952 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,284,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,241,000 after purchasing an additional 444,435 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 89.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 45,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,485,000 after purchasing an additional 21,361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Equinor ASA by 61.8% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 258,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,469,000 after buying an additional 98,786 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EQNR. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Equinor ASA in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. They set a “hold” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. DZ Bank cut Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $26.40 to $28.50 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Equinor ASA currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.25.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

EQNR stock opened at $26.60 on Wednesday. Equinor ASA has a twelve month low of $24.44 and a twelve month high of $34.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $83.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s fifty day moving average is $26.69 and its 200-day moving average is $29.37.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.44). Equinor ASA had a net margin of 9.30% and a return on equity of 19.67%. The company had revenue of $29.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.35 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Equinor ASA will post 3.37 EPS for the current year.

Equinor ASA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is 30.34%.

About Equinor ASA

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.