Short Interest in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Rises By 6.5%

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) saw a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,760,000 shares, an increase of 6.5% from the October 15th total of 10,100,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,540,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days. Approximately 0.4% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Equinor ASA Stock Performance

NYSE EQNR traded down $0.51 on Tuesday, hitting $23.71. 2,284,580 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,405,627. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $24.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.44. Equinor ASA has a 52-week low of $22.15 and a 52-week high of $33.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market capitalization of $66.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.43, a P/E/G ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.84.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $25.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.45 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 19.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.92 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EQNR. UBS Group raised Equinor ASA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com raised Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley raised Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $25.80 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup upgraded Equinor ASA to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised Equinor ASA to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equinor ASA presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.90.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Equinor ASA by 2,359.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,783,338 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,354,000 after buying an additional 6,507,511 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 4.5% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,865,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,485,000 after acquiring an additional 166,131 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 1.4% during the second quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 862,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,635,000 after purchasing an additional 11,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambiar Investors LLC raised its stake in Equinor ASA by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC now owns 572,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,343,000 after purchasing an additional 21,469 shares during the period. 5.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.