Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Stake in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 46,922,862 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 2,023,222 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 10.65% of EQT worth $1,814,038,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of EQT by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 52,883,676 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,044,484,000 after purchasing an additional 3,159,700 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of EQT by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,320,219 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $785,580,000 after purchasing an additional 632,625 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of EQT by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,425,711 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $673,678,000 after purchasing an additional 265,297 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of EQT by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,981,749 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $153,934,000 after purchasing an additional 324,411 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of EQT by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,865,008 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $149,421,000 after purchasing an additional 519,294 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of EQT from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of EQT from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $27.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of EQT to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of EQT from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on shares of EQT in a research note on Friday, April 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, EQT presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.24.

Insider Transactions at EQT

In other news, EVP William E. Jordan sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.72, for a total transaction of $1,425,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 456,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,602,402.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP William E. Jordan sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.72, for a total transaction of $1,425,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 456,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,602,402.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Lesley Evancho sold 46,884 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total transaction of $1,935,840.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 160,884 shares in the company, valued at $6,642,900.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

EQT Price Performance

EQT stock opened at $38.23 on Wednesday. EQT Co. has a 12-month low of $32.07 and a 12-month high of $45.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.70 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $39.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.17. EQT had a net margin of 10.96% and a return on equity of 4.57%. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.70 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 28.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that EQT Co. will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th were issued a dividend of $0.1575 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $0.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. EQT’s payout ratio is currently 45.65%.

About EQT

EQT Corporation operates as a natural gas production company in the United States. The company sells natural gas and natural gas liquids to marketers, utilities, and industrial customers through pipelines located in the Appalachian Basin. It also offers marketing services and contractual pipeline capacity management services.