Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Short Interest Down 6.9% in January

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR - Get Free Report) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 13,610,000 shares, a drop of 6.9% from the January 15th total of 14,620,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,780,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days. Currently, 0.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $25.80 to $30.90 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Nordea Equity Research upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $29.45.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

Shares of EQNR stock traded down $0.27 on Friday, hitting $23.22. 3,619,424 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,472,283. The firm has a market cap of $64.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.46, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.83. Equinor ASA has a 52 week low of $21.85 and a 52 week high of $29.32. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.63 EPS 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, equities research analysts predict that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.03%. Equinor ASA's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.62%.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Folketrygdfondet increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 4,300,472 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Equinor ASA by 3,159.0% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,649,389 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,764,000 after buying an additional 2,568,095 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Equinor ASA by 958.7% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 1,447,536 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,292,000 after buying an additional 1,310,812 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 771.8% in the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,015,657 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,061,000 after purchasing an additional 899,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP raised its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 975.0% in the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 842,580 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,961,000 after purchasing an additional 764,204 shares in the last quarter. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Equinor ASA

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.