Baird Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in EQT Corporation $EQT

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in EQT Corporation by 381.3% in the first quarter, owning 88,634 shares valued at approximately $4.74 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Larson Financial Group and Harbour Investments, have also increased their positions in EQT during the same quarter, highlighting strong institutional interest as they own 90.81% of the company's stock.
• Analysts have positive outlooks on EQT, with multiple upgrades in price targets and 15 out of 21 investment analysts rating the stock as a Buy.

Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT - Free Report) by 381.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 88,634 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after acquiring an additional 70,218 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in EQT were worth $4,736,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. bought a new position in EQT in the first quarter valued at approximately $337,000. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of EQT by 41.9% in the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 42,586 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $2,276,000 after buying an additional 12,572 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of EQT by 44.6% in the first quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 12,400 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $663,000 after buying an additional 3,822 shares in the last quarter. Situational Awareness LP acquired a new position in EQT during the first quarter worth $52,864,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in EQT during the first quarter worth $30,710,000. Institutional investors own 90.81% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other EQT news, Director Vicky A. Bailey sold 4,259 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.56, for a total transaction of $219,594.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Sarah Fenton sold 12,438 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 13,297 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $690,646.18. This trade represents a 48.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.65% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on EQT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of EQT from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays lifted their price target on EQT from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on EQT from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Melius Research initiated coverage on EQT in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $64.00 target price for the company. Finally, Roth Capital downgraded EQT from a "strong-buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $75.00 to $57.00 in a report on Monday, August 18th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $62.14.

EQT Trading Up 1.6%

NYSE EQT traded up $0.82 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $51.07. 5,278,415 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,336,555. EQT Corporation has a one year low of $31.67 and a one year high of $61.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.03. The stock has a market cap of $31.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.58.

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

EQT Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 6th were given a dividend of $0.1575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 6th. This represents a $0.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. EQT's payout ratio is presently 34.05%.

EQT 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.