MML Investors Services LLC Grows Position in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) by 29.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 17,895 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 4,057 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in EQT were worth $656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in EQT in the third quarter worth approximately $124,000. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc lifted its stake in shares of EQT by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc now owns 11,619 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $426,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares during the last quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP bought a new stake in EQT during the third quarter valued at about $48,003,000. DF Dent & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in EQT in the third quarter valued at about $803,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in EQT by 98.9% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 241,089 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $8,833,000 after purchasing an additional 119,858 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at EQT

In other EQT news, Director Thomas F. Karam sold 30,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.83, for a total value of $1,351,803.82. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 201,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,038,086.64. This trade represents a 13.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of EQT from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America started coverage on EQT in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on EQT in a research report on Friday, December 6th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on EQT from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Stephens raised their price target on EQT from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.61.

EQT Price Performance

NYSE:EQT opened at $42.99 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $41.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.52. The firm has a market cap of $25.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.18 and a beta of 1.14. EQT Co. has a one year low of $30.02 and a one year high of $48.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.51.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.06. EQT had a return on equity of 3.74% and a net margin of 5.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. EQT’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that EQT Co. will post 1.37 EPS for the current year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a dividend of $0.1575 per share. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.00%.

EQT Company Profile

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.