California State Teachers Retirement System Raises Stake in EQT Corporation $EQT

California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT - Free Report) by 5,000.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,749,722 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after purchasing an additional 36,029,223 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 5.88% of EQT worth $1,953,983,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in EQT during the 1st quarter worth approximately $256,000. Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in shares of EQT by 9.0% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 21,637 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $1,156,000 after acquiring an additional 1,789 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its holdings in shares of EQT by 495.2% in the 2nd quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 128,060 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $7,468,000 after acquiring an additional 106,545 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of EQT by 39.4% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 30,617 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $1,786,000 after purchasing an additional 8,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC raised its position in EQT by 43.6% in the 3rd quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 85,502 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $4,640,000 after purchasing an additional 25,971 shares during the period. 90.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other EQT news, CEO Toby Rice sold 175,328 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,157,865 shares in the company, valued at $118,747,310.95. The trade was a 7.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lowered their target price on EQT from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of EQT from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Zacks Research raised shares of EQT from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Weiss Ratings cut EQT from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on EQT in a research report on Wednesday. They set a "buy" rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $68.00.

EQT Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of EQT stock opened at $54.08 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $33.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.55 and a beta of 0.58. EQT Corporation has a 1 year low of $47.94 and a 1 year high of $68.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $52.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.20.

EQT (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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). EQT had a net margin of 28.44% and a return on equity of 9.31%. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. EQT's revenue for the quarter was down 29.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that EQT Corporation will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 5th were paid a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 5th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. EQT's dividend payout ratio is 15.31%.

EQT Profile

EQT Corporation is a natural gas exploration and production company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company primarily develops and operates unconventional oil and gas properties in the Appalachian Basin, with a focus on natural gas production from the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.

EQT's products include natural gas, natural gas liquids and condensate. Its operations span drilling, well completion, production and related gathering activities, supporting the delivery of energy to utilities, industrial customers, marketers and other buyers.

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