Equinor ASA (NYSE: EQNR) was the recipient of unusual options trades on Friday. Stock traders bought 4,245 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,324% over the average daily volume of 298 call options.

Several stock analysts recently commented on the company. Berenberg Bank reiterated a “buy” note on Equinor ASA shares in a research note on Friday, June 25. BNP Paribas downgraded Equinor ASA from an “outperformance” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 6. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on Equinor ASA shares in a research report on Wednesday, June 16. MKM Partners resumed coverage of Equinor ASA in a research report on Wednesday, August 25. They set a “buy” rating and a price target of $ 34.00 for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Equinor ASA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report released on Friday. One analyst rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven assigned a conservation rating and nine issued a buy rating for the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $ 25.69.

Equinor ASA shares traded down $ 0.62 on Friday, reaching $ 23.25. 203,350 shares of the company were traded, for an average volume of 2,831,528. The company has a leverage ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.70. The company’s 50-day moving average is $ 20.93 and its two-hundred-day moving average is $ 20.81. The company has a market cap of $ 75.48 billion, a price / earnings ratio of -103.78, a P / E / G ratio of 0.17 and a beta of 1.26. Equinor ASA has a one-year low at $ 12.11 and a one-year high at $ 24.66.

Equinor ASA (NYSE: EQNR) last reported its quarterly results on Wednesday, July 28. The company reported earnings per share of $ 0.49 for the quarter, beating analyst consensus estimates of $ 0.48 by $ 0.01. Equinor ASA posted a positive return on equity of 11.24% and a negative net margin of 1.34%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect Equinor ASA to post earnings per share of 2.65 for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 27. Shareholders of record on Thursday August 12 received a dividend of $ 0.18 per share. This is a positive change from Equinor ASA’s previous quarterly dividend of $ 0.12. This represents a dividend of $ 0.72 on an annualized basis and a return of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday August 11. Equinor ASA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 159.26%.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently changed their holdings in the company. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Equinor ASA by 43.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,480,028 shares of the company valued at $ 179,776,000 after purchasing an additional 2,548,646 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings of Equinor ASA shares by 20.5% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,345,824 shares of the company valued at $ 155,732,000 after purchasing an additional 1,248,613 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Equinor ASA shares by 2.2% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,067,655 shares of the company valued at $ 59,696,000 after purchasing an additional 65,014 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings of Equinor ASA shares by 118.5% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,107,710 shares of the company valued at $ 44,683,000 after purchasing an additional 1,143,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Equinor ASA shares by 75.8% during the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,855,239 shares of the company valued at $ 39,331,000 after purchasing an additional 799,858 shares last quarter. 5.40% of the shares are held by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equinor ASA Company Profile

Equinor ASA is engaged in the exploration, production, transportation, refining and marketing of petroleum and petroleum products. It operates through the following segments: Exploration and Production Norway, Exploration and Production International, Exploration and Production USA, Marketing, Midstream and Processing, and Others.

Featured article: What is the Federal Reserve?

This instant news alert was powered by storytelling technology and MarketBeat financial data to provide readers with the fastest, most accurate reports. This story was reviewed by the MarketBeat editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]

Should you invest $ 1,000 in Equinor ASA now?

Before you consider Equinor ASA, you’ll want to hear this.

MarketBeat tracks Wall Street’s top-rated and top-performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts quietly whisper to their clients to buy now before the broader market takes hold of … and Equinor ASA was not on the list.

Although Equinor ASA currently has a “Buy” rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better bids.

See the 5 actions here