EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-nine research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $68.2083.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on EQT. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on EQT from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on shares of EQT in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of EQT from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of EQT from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Capital One Financial increased their price target on shares of EQT from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th.

EQT Price Performance

EQT stock traded down $1.29 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $48.86. 10,859,379 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,544,970. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.27 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.66. EQT has a 12 month low of $47.94 and a 12 month high of $68.24. The business’s 50-day moving average is $54.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.71.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oil and gas producer reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.32. EQT had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 31.94%.The business had revenue of $3.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.18 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that EQT will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th were issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 6th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. EQT’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Vicky A. Bailey sold 4,116 shares of EQT stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.80, for a total value of $246,136.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Toby Z. Rice sold 96,983 shares of EQT stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.28, for a total value of $5,264,237.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,334,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $126,739,674.72. This trade represents a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 102,830 shares of company stock worth $5,602,913 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of EQT

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in EQT by 18.6% during the second quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,159 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $700,000 after acquiring an additional 2,060 shares in the last quarter. Miller Global Investments LLC boosted its stake in EQT by 3,066.4% in the 2nd quarter. Miller Global Investments LLC now owns 7,916 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 7,666 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in EQT by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 19,965 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,271,000 after purchasing an additional 890 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in EQT by 112.2% during the 1st quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 40,189 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,558,000 after purchasing an additional 21,249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Montchanin Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EQT in the 1st quarter valued at about $260,000. 90.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About EQT

EQT Corporation (NYSE: EQT) is a U.S.-based energy company focused on the exploration, development and production of natural gas. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the company concentrates its upstream operations in the Appalachian Basin, producing from major shale formations including the Marcellus and Utica. EQT’s primary product is natural gas, with production activities supported by associated liquids and conventional gas assets where applicable.

In addition to drilling and well development, EQT operates and coordinates the infrastructure and commercial activities necessary to bring gas to market.