EQT (NYSE:EQT) Stock Price Target Cut by Mizuho

Key Points

• Mizuho lowered EQT’s price target from $72 to $68 while maintaining an “outperform” rating, implying approximately 30% upside from the stock’s current price.
• EQT shares fell 1.0% to $52.22, while the analyst consensus remains a “Moderate Buy” with an average target price of $67.68.
• The company recently missed quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, with revenue down 29.2% year over year; institutional investors nonetheless own 90.81% of EQT’s shares.

EQT (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) had its price objective dropped by stock analysts at Mizuho from $72.00 to $68.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "outperform" rating on the oil and gas producer's stock. Mizuho's target price would indicate a potential upside of 30.23% from the stock's current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Wall Street Zen cut EQT from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of EQT from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of EQT from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of EQT from $72.00 to $68.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of EQT in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $67.68.

EQT Trading Down 1.0%

EQT stock traded down $0.54 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $52.22. The stock had a trading volume of 2,618,562 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,153,376. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $52.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $54.29. EQT has a twelve month low of $47.94 and a twelve month high of $68.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $32.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.12 and a beta of 0.66.

EQT (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.76 billion. EQT had a return on equity of 9.31% and a net margin of 28.44%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 29.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that EQT will post 3.90 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other EQT news, CEO Toby Rice sold 175,328 shares of EQT stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.03, for a total value of $9,648,299.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,157,865 shares in the company, valued at $118,747,310.95. The trade was a 7.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EQT

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQT. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in EQT in the second quarter worth about $3,204,125,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in EQT by 3.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 39,679,249 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $2,109,746,000 after purchasing an additional 1,398,316 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in EQT by 41.4% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 22,565,479 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $1,199,807,000 after purchasing an additional 6,603,286 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of EQT in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $512,148,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of EQT by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,240,709 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $225,478,000 after purchasing an additional 284,244 shares during the period. 90.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About EQT

EQT Corporation is a natural gas producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company explores for, develops, and produces natural gas, natural gas liquids, and crude oil, with its operations concentrated in the Appalachian Basin, particularly the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.

In addition to its upstream production activities, EQT has interests in the midstream infrastructure used to gather, process, transport, and store natural gas. These assets support the movement of production from well sites to regional and interstate markets.

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