Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $25.67, but opened at $25.02. Equinor ASA shares last traded at $25.11, with a volume of 534,167 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays upgraded Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $25.80 to $30.90 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Equinor ASA from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Equinor ASA to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Equinor ASA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.45.

Equinor ASA Trading Down 0.5 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $69.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a fifty day moving average of $23.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the company earned $0.92 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.36 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 6.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 230,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,576,000 after purchasing an additional 14,705 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 13.3% during 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 during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 21.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 32,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $913,000 after purchasing an additional 5,680 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 3.0% during the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 19,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $550,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 27.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.