Inspire Advisors LLC Purchases 2,159 Shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR)

Inspire Advisors LLC boosted its position in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) by 10.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,313 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,159 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Equinor ASA were worth $552,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in EQNR. Folketrygdfondet boosted its holdings in Equinor ASA by 4.0% in the fourth 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. ABC Arbitrage SA bought a new position in Equinor ASA in the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,043,000. Drum Hill Capital LLC bought a new position in Equinor ASA in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,023,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in Equinor ASA in the third quarter worth approximately $3,685,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Equinor ASA by 3.7% in the third 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. Institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on EQNR shares. HSBC upgraded Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Equinor ASA from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com lowered Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $25.80 to $30.90 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Equinor ASA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.45.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

Shares of EQNR opened at $23.91 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market capitalization of $66.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.69, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $23.95 and a 200 day moving average of $24.26. Equinor ASA has a 12 month low of $21.85 and a 12 month high of $29.32.

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

Equinor ASA Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.