Optiver Holding B.V. Raises Holdings in Equinor ASA $EQNR

Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) by 38,151.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 511,799 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 510,461 shares during the quarter. Optiver Holding B.V.’s holdings in Equinor ASA were worth $12,478,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Equinor ASA by 113.0% during the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,787,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,945,000 after acquiring an additional 948,609 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 30.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 108,633 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,731,000 after purchasing an additional 25,361 shares in the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equinor ASA during the 2nd quarter worth $1,065,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 1,043.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 18,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $462,000 after purchasing an additional 16,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABC Arbitrage SA grew its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 100.8% during the third quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 515,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,569,000 after purchasing an additional 258,767 shares in the last quarter. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equinor ASA Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:EQNR opened at $29.14 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $85.79 billion, a PE ratio of 15.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.38. Equinor ASA has a 52-week low of $21.41 and a 52-week high of $29.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $25.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.31 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 15.23% and a net margin of 4.74%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 EPS for the current year.

Equinor ASA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This is a boost 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQNR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their price target on Equinor ASA from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of Equinor ASA in a report on Friday, October 31st. Zacks Research upgraded Equinor ASA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Equinor ASA in a report on Thursday, January 8th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. 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 data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average 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.