Bank of Nova Scotia Acquires Shares of 13,055 Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR)

Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new position in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 13,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $310,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Folketrygdfondet raised 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 purchasing an additional 4,300,472 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP grew its position 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 worth $19,961,000 after buying an additional 764,204 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,151,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,340,000 after acquiring an additional 399,861 shares in the last quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new position in Equinor ASA during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,043,000. Finally, Drum Hill Capital LLC bought a new stake in Equinor ASA during the fourth quarter worth about $4,023,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Nordea Equity Research upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. DZ Bank raised Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Equinor ASA from $30.90 to $28.20 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. HSBC raised Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Equinor ASA in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.10.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EQNR opened at $23.04 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $23.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.10. Equinor ASA has a 52-week low of $21.41 and a 52-week high of $29.32. The company has a market cap of $64.34 billion, a PE ratio of 7.41, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.63 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, analysts anticipate that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 EPS for the current year.

Equinor ASA Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.304 per share. This represents a $1.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.91%.

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.