EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• EQT Corporation has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from 21 analysts, with 15 recommending to buy, 5 to hold, and 1 to sell the stock. The average 1-year price target is $62.14.
• Despite a missed earnings estimate in its latest quarterly report, EQT has maintained a strong market presence with a market capitalization of $31.79 billion and a PE ratio of 27.54.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.1575 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 1.2% and a dividend payout ratio of 34.05%.

EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty-one analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $62.1429.

EQT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on EQT from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on EQT from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Barclays increased their price target on EQT from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Melius initiated coverage on EQT in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $64.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on EQT from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th.

EQT Stock Performance

EQT stock opened at $50.94 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.79 billion, a PE ratio of 27.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.58. EQT has a 12-month low of $32.83 and a 12-month high of $61.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $52.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.13.

EQT (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.78 billion. EQT had a net margin of 15.87% and a return on equity of 6.24%. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.08) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that EQT will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 6th were issued a $0.1575 dividend. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 6th. EQT's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Vicky A. Bailey sold 4,259 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.56, for a total value of $219,594.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Sarah Fenton sold 12,438 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.94, for a total value of $646,029.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 13,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $690,646.18. This represents a 48.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EQT

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of EQT during the first quarter valued at about $120,252,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of EQT by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,039,340 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $3,955,922,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509,054 shares in the last quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc CT purchased a new position in shares of EQT during the second quarter valued at about $67,539,000. Ninepoint Partners LP grew its position in shares of EQT by 200.0% during the first quarter. Ninepoint Partners LP now owns 1,500,000 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $80,145,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Situational Awareness LP purchased a new position in shares of EQT during the first quarter valued at about $52,864,000. 90.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

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