Wedbush Securities Inc. Reduces Position in Equinor ASA $EQNR

Wedbush Securities Inc. trimmed its position in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) by 9.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,599 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,469 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Equinor ASA were worth $593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Equinor ASA in the first quarter valued at $53,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equinor ASA during the 1st quarter worth about $57,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 7,586.7% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,306 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 2,276 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 30.4% in the 2nd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 2,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 639 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equinor ASA during the 1st quarter worth about $74,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

Equinor ASA Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:EQNR opened at $24.70 on Wednesday. Equinor ASA has a 1-year low of $21.41 and a 1-year high of $28.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market cap of $72.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $24.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.66.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.20). Equinor ASA had a net margin of 5.27% and a return on equity of 14.11%. The business had revenue of $26.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.26 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 EPS for the current year.

Equinor ASA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.0%. This is a boost from Equinor ASA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EQNR. DZ Bank downgraded Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of Equinor ASA in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and eight have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equinor ASA has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $22.71.

Equinor ASA 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.