Equinor ASA Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:EQNR)

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 15,351 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 511% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,511 put options.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQNR opened at $23.18 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.45, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.79. 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 has a one year low of $21.85 and a one year high of $29.32. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $23.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.32.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 research analysts anticipate that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinor ASA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.04%. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.30%.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EQNR. Folketrygdfondet grew its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Equinor ASA by 3,159.0% during the fourth 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 grew its position in Equinor ASA by 958.7% during the fourth 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. grew its position in Equinor ASA by 771.8% during the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,015,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,061,000 after buying an additional 899,157 shares during the period. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP grew its position in Equinor ASA by 975.0% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 842,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,961,000 after buying an additional 764,204 shares during the period. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on EQNR. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Equinor ASA to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. HSBC upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $25.80 to $30.90 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.45.

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.