EQT Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:EQT)

EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 23,337 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 39% compared to the average daily volume of 16,816 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EQT

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQT. Drummond Knight Asset Management Pty Ltd raised its holdings in shares of EQT by 26.2% in the 1st quarter. Drummond Knight Asset Management Pty Ltd now owns 281,569 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $15,044,000 after buying an additional 58,436 shares in the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in EQT in the 1st quarter valued at $1,977,000. Strs Ohio bought a new position in EQT in the 1st quarter valued at $1,844,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in EQT by 31.6% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 5,301 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $283,000 after buying an additional 1,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of EQT by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 96,218 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $5,141,000 after purchasing an additional 8,918 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.81% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on EQT shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on EQT from $35.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. UBS Group upgraded EQT from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $64.00 in a report on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on EQT from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on EQT from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on EQT from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $59.95.

EQT Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of EQT traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $54.74. 8,462,357 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,017,914. The company has a market cap of $32.78 billion, a PE ratio of 96.04, a PEG ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 0.65. The firm's 50 day moving average is $55.88 and its 200-day moving average is $52.23. EQT has a 52 week low of $30.02 and a 52 week high of $61.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.57.

EQT (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. EQT had a return on equity of 5.52% and a net margin of 6.59%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that EQT will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were issued a $0.1575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $0.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. EQT's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.53%.

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.