Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $42.55 and last traded at $42.9810, with a volume of 269047 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $41.53.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Equinor ASA in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Equinor ASA from $25.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. DZ Bank upgraded Equinor ASA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Pareto Securities downgraded Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $34.61.

Equinor ASA Trading Up 3.6%

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $30.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $126.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.62 and a beta of 0.35.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $25.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.31 billion. Equinor ASA had a net margin of 4.74% and a return on equity of 15.23%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This is a positive change from Equinor ASA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.37%.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirabella Financial Services LLP bought a new stake in Equinor ASA in the 3rd quarter valued at $730,757,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,250,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,600,000 after buying an additional 493,801 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 4,288,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,338,000 after acquiring an additional 401,424 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 0.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,852,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,923,000 after acquiring an additional 25,250 shares in the last quarter. 5.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.