HighTower Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR)

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its position in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) by 50.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 102,796 shares of the company’s stock after selling 102,945 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Equinor ASA were worth $2,435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Folketrygdfondet grew its stake in Equinor ASA by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 111,466,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,640,631,000 after acquiring an additional 4,300,472 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Equinor ASA by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,751,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,019,000 after acquiring an additional 132,157 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Equinor ASA by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 557,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,207,000 after acquiring an additional 34,720 shares in the last quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA bought a new position in Equinor ASA in the 4th quarter worth about $9,043,000. Finally, Todd Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Equinor ASA by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 178,432 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,227,000 after acquiring an additional 10,828 shares in the last quarter. 5.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQNR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Equinor ASA from $30.90 to $28.20 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Equinor ASA in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.10.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

Shares of EQNR opened at $25.69 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $71.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.79. Equinor ASA has a twelve month low of $21.85 and a twelve month high of $29.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $23.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.16.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.19). Equinor ASA had a net margin of 8.49% and a return on equity of 20.33%. As a group, analysts predict that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.45%. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.30%.

Equinor ASA Company 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.