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

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during 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 shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 3,540,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.3 days.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

Shares of EQNR stock traded down $0.12 on Monday, hitting $24.94. 3,389,610 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, 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. Equinor ASA has a 12 month low of $21.85 and a 12 month high of $29.49. The stock has a market cap of $69.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50 day moving average of $23.93 and a 200 day moving average of $25.16.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $25.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Equinor ASA will post 3.36 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Equinor ASA

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Equinor ASA in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Equinor ASA by 27.1% in 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 last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC raised its position in Equinor ASA by 363.5% in the third quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 1,512 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Equinor ASA in the fourth quarter valued at about $61,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Equinor ASA by 12.7% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,804 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQNR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of 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 research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently 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.