Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.30

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 27th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.30 per share on Tuesday, May 28th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th.

Equinor ASA has increased its dividend payment by an average of 71.8% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Equinor ASA has a payout ratio of 112.1% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Equinor ASA to earn $3.15 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $3.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 114.3%.

Equinor ASA Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE EQNR opened at $26.91 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Equinor ASA has a 1-year low of $24.44 and a 1-year high of $34.73. The company has a 50 day moving average of $26.68 and a 200-day moving average of $30.27. The company has a market cap of $84.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.88 and a beta of 0.84.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.44). Equinor ASA had a net margin of 11.09% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The business had revenue of $29.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.35 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Equinor ASA will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on EQNR shares. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Equinor ASA in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. DZ Bank cut shares of Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Equinor ASA from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 29th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.25.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equinor ASA

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 42.8% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 10,186,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,086,000 after acquiring an additional 3,052,907 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 47.6% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,752,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,429,000 after acquiring an additional 1,210,930 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equinor ASA in the 1st quarter worth about $55,819,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Equinor ASA by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,195,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,917,000 after purchasing an additional 98,548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Equinor ASA by 78.5% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,147,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,045,000 after purchasing an additional 504,804 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

Equinor ASA Company 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.