Empowered Funds LLC Grows Stake in EQT Corporation $EQT

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in EQT Corporation by 11.2% in Q1, owning 216,628 shares valued at $11.57 million.
• Multiple institutional investors have also raised their positions in EQT, with Captrust Financial Advisors increasing its stake by 41.5% in Q4.
• EQT recently reported a missed earnings of $0.45 EPS for the quarter, falling short of analysts' expectations of $0.52.

Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT - Free Report) by 11.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 216,628 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after acquiring an additional 21,738 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in EQT were worth $11,574,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of EQT during the 1st quarter worth about $14,638,000. Aristeia Capital L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of EQT in the 1st quarter valued at about $447,000. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in shares of EQT in the 1st quarter valued at about $256,000. Sciencast Management LP boosted its position in shares of EQT by 17.3% in the 1st quarter. Sciencast Management LP now owns 68,374 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $3,653,000 after purchasing an additional 10,087 shares during the period. Finally, First Dallas Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of EQT in the 1st quarter valued at about $232,000. 90.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at EQT

In other news, 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 transaction of $646,029.72. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 13,297 shares in the company, valued at $690,646.18. This trade represents a 48.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $70.00 target price (up from $60.00) on shares of EQT in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Mizuho raised EQT to an "outperform" rating and set a $66.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on EQT from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Roth Capital cut EQT from a "strong-buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Melius began coverage on EQT in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $64.00 price objective for the company. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $62.14.

EQT Stock Performance

Shares of EQT stock traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $50.78. 1,401,056 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,109,680. The company has a market cap of $31.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.58. The company's 50 day moving average is $52.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.13. EQT Corporation has a 1 year low of $32.88 and a 1 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.

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 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 firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.08) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that EQT Corporation will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

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