Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $40.40 target price on the stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Pareto Securities upgraded Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings raised Equinor ASA from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Equinor ASA from $25.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised Equinor ASA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equinor ASA currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $34.61.

Equinor ASA Trading Up 1.6%

Equinor ASA stock opened at $41.11 on Tuesday. Equinor ASA has a 12-month low of $21.41 and a 12-month high of $42.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.63 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $30.53 and a 200 day moving average of $26.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.31 billion. Equinor ASA had a net margin of 4.74% and a return on equity of 15.23%. As a group, research analysts predict that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinor ASA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. This is an increase from Equinor ASA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Equinor ASA’s payout ratio is presently 67.37%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EQNR. Mirabella Financial Services LLP bought a new stake in shares of Equinor ASA in the third quarter worth about $730,757,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Equinor ASA by 30.2% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,759,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $384,227,000 after buying an additional 3,659,611 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Equinor ASA by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,250,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,600,000 after buying an additional 493,801 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in Equinor ASA by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 4,288,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,338,000 after buying an additional 401,424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Equinor ASA by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,852,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,923,000 after buying an additional 25,250 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

More Equinor ASA News

Here are the key news stories impacting Equinor ASA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks has added EQNR to several Rank #1 lists (momentum, strong buy, income and value), boosting investor interest and momentum positioning for the stock. New Strong Buy Stocks for March 26th
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley upgraded EQNR (per coverage), an analyst action that can prompt buy flows and validate valuation upside for institutional investors. Equinor ASA Stock Rating Upgraded by Morgan Stanley
• Positive Sentiment: Equinor and Shell’s Adura Energy JV secured $3B in lending support for North Sea operations — this large financing package lowers project funding risk and signals bank confidence in regional production plans. Shell-Equinor JV Secures $3B Lending Support for North Sea Operations
• Positive Sentiment: Equinor has begun drilling at the Raia project in Brazil, a ~$9B development targeting first gas in 2028 — successful execution would materially increase gas volumes to meet rising Brazilian demand. Equinor Begins Drilling at Raia, Strengthens Brazil’s Gas Supply
• Neutral Sentiment: Equinor CEO commented that the EU is unlikely to increase Russian gas imports amid Middle East supply disruption — a macro view that may support European suppliers like Equinor but also reflects broader geopolitical uncertainty. CERAWEEK: Equinor CEO says EU unlikely to increase Russian gas imports
• Neutral Sentiment: Market data shows unusually high options activity in EQNR, indicating elevated speculative or hedging interest; this can amplify intraday moves but is not a direct signal of fundamentals. Equinor ASA Target of Unusually High Options Trading
• Neutral Sentiment: Equinor awarded a helicopter contract in Bergen to bolster offshore transport capacity — an operational detail that supports safe, reliable field logistics but has limited direct equity impact. Equinor Bolsters Helicopter Capacity in Bergen

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.