Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Short Interest Up 7.5% in December

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,270,000 shares, a growth of 7.5% from the December 15th total of 14,200,000 shares. Currently, 0.6% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 3,540,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.3 days.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

NYSE:EQNR traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $24.94. 3,389,610 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,144,319. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market cap of $69.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.84. Equinor ASA has a 1-year low of $21.85 and a 1-year high of $29.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $23.93 and its 200-day moving average is $25.18.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.05. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 19.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. The company had revenue of $25.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,751,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,019,000 after acquiring an additional 132,157 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in Equinor ASA by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 862,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,635,000 after purchasing an additional 11,500 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 3.2% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 522,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,242,000 after buying an additional 16,303 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 13.3% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 416,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,898,000 after purchasing an additional 49,029 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new position in shares of Equinor ASA during the 3rd quarter worth about $6,203,000. Institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays raised shares of Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Equinor ASA from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $25.80 to $30.90 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Equinor ASA to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.