Jennison Associates LLC Invests $8.58 Million in Equinor ASA $EQNR

Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 203,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,582,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Equinor ASA by 30.2% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,759,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $384,227,000 after buying an additional 3,659,611 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Equinor ASA by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,250,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,600,000 after purchasing an additional 493,801 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 4,288,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,338,000 after buying an additional 401,424 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Equinor ASA by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,852,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,923,000 after acquiring an additional 25,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG grew its stake in Equinor ASA by 20.1% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,674,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,823,000 after purchasing an additional 280,708 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on EQNR. Morgan Stanley raised Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.40 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Equinor ASA from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, Pareto Securities lowered shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equinor ASA has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.70.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

EQNR stock opened at $37.58 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $110.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.24, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.69. Equinor ASA has a fifty-two week low of $22.26 and a fifty-two week high of $43.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.47. Equinor ASA had a net margin of 5.30% and a return on equity of 20.01%. The firm had revenue of $28.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.73 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Equinor ASA will post 4.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.