Marshall Wace LLP Grows Stock Holdings in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR)

Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) by 3,159.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,649,389 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,568,095 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Equinor ASA were worth $62,764,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of EQNR. Mariner LLC raised its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 60,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,435,000 after buying an additional 8,769 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC bought a new stake in Equinor ASA in the 4th quarter valued at $1,120,000. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in Equinor ASA by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 23,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $550,000 after purchasing an additional 5,414 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 1,009.8% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 2,272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DRW Securities LLC grew its holdings in Equinor ASA by 91.9% during the 4th quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 124,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,945,000 after buying an additional 59,542 shares in the last quarter. 5.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on EQNR. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Equinor ASA from $30.90 to $28.20 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Pareto Securities upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Equinor ASA to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Equinor ASA in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.10.

Equinor ASA Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:EQNR opened at $23.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.08. Equinor ASA has a 1 year low of $21.41 and a 1 year high of $29.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.89 billion, a PE ratio of 7.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.58.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 EPS for the current year.

Equinor ASA Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.304 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.23%. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is 38.91%.

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.