Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.06), FiscalAI reports. The business had revenue of $34.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.03 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 23.83% and a net margin of 7.92%.

Here are the key takeaways from Equinor ASA’s conference call:

• Equinor said second-quarter production rose 3% to 2.165 million boe/d, helped by new fields like Johan Castberg, Halten East, Verdande, Eirin and Symra, and first-half production growth reached 6%.
• The company reported strong financial results, including adjusted operating income of $11.5 billion before tax, IFRS net income of $4.8 billion, and year-to-date cash flow from operations after tax of $13.7 billion.
• Equinor highlighted ongoing capital returns, with the board approving an ordinary dividend of $0.39 per share and a third-quarter share buyback tranche of up to $1.125 billion, while reaffirming its plan to double 2026 buybacks to $3 billion.
• Management kept full-year guidance unchanged but said it is now more robust after the strong first half; however, Johan Castberg downtime will reduce third-quarter output by about 14,000 bpd net to Equinor.
• The company emphasized a solid balance sheet, with around $24 billion in cash and cash equivalents and a net debt ratio of 10.4%, which it expects could end the year somewhat below 10% if current forward prices hold.

Equinor ASA Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of EQNR opened at $40.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $120.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.06. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Equinor ASA has a 1 year low of $22.26 and a 1 year high of $43.46.

Equinor ASA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is presently 58.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on EQNR. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Pareto Securities cut shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Equinor ASA from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Equinor ASA from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.20.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equinor ASA

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Equinor ASA by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 50,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Equinor ASA by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 120,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,851,000 after buying an additional 4,220 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Equinor ASA during the fourth quarter valued at about $448,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 143.2% during the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 880,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,816,000 after buying an additional 518,646 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 165.1% in the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 38,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $920,000 after buying an additional 24,244 shares during the period. 5.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equinor ASA Company Profile

Equinor ASA (NYSE: EQNR) is a Norway-based integrated energy company headquartered in Stavanger. Historically established as Statoil in the 1970s to develop Norway’s petroleum resources, the company changed its name to Equinor in 2018 to reflect a strategic shift toward a broader energy portfolio. Equinor’s operations span the full upstream value chain, including exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas, alongside trading and marketing activities that support its global commercial operations.

In recent years Equinor has pursued a transition strategy that combines continued development of conventional oil and gas resources with growing investments in low?carbon energy.