Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Shares Sold by Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC

Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) by 32.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,092 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,203 shares during the period. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Equinor ASA were worth $500,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Folketrygdfondet boosted 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 valued at $2,640,631,000 after buying an additional 4,300,472 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of 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. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Equinor ASA by 771.8% during 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 during the period. Trexquant Investment LP boosted its stake in Equinor ASA by 975.0% during 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 during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Equinor ASA by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,151,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,340,000 after purchasing an additional 399,861 shares during the period. 5.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equinor ASA Stock Up 0.8%

EQNR stock opened at $23.55 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.78. Equinor ASA has a 52-week low of $21.41 and a 52-week high of $29.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.58. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.17). Equinor ASA had a net margin of 8.49% and a return on equity of 20.33%. The company had revenue of $27.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.16 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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 given a dividend of $0.304 per share. This represents a $1.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is presently 38.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Pareto Securities upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Equinor ASA from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. HSBC upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Nordea Equity Research upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.85.

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.