EQT Corporation $EQT Shares Sold by Royal Bank of Canada

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada reduced its holdings in EQT Corporation by 12.4% in the first quarter, owning approximately 1.83 million shares valued at about $97.87 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Despite the recent share sale, institutional investors own 90.81% of EQT, with various hedge funds adjusting their stakes, including Harbour Investments increasing theirs by 48.4%.
• Analysts maintain positive outlooks with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for EQT and an average price target of $62.14, although some firms have recently adjusted their price objectives downward.

Royal Bank of Canada decreased its holdings in EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT - Free Report) by 12.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,831,694 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 258,529 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.31% of EQT worth $97,867,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. MAI Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of EQT by 59.1% during the 1st quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 4,041 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $216,000 after purchasing an additional 1,501 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of EQT by 381.3% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 88,634 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $4,736,000 after buying an additional 70,218 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. bought a new position in EQT in the first quarter valued at approximately $337,000. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its position in EQT by 41.9% during the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 42,586 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $2,276,000 after purchasing an additional 12,572 shares during the period. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of EQT by 44.6% during the 1st quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 12,400 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $663,000 after buying an additional 3,822 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.81% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on EQT shares. Roth Capital downgraded EQT from a "strong-buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $75.00 to $57.00 in a report on Monday, August 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on EQT from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of EQT from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of EQT from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of EQT from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $62.14.

EQT Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE:EQT traded down $0.87 on Monday, hitting $50.73. 4,422,520 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,205,953. The stock has a market cap of $31.66 billion, a PE ratio of 27.42, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.58. EQT Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $31.45 and a fifty-two week 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 has a fifty day moving average of $53.48 and a 200-day moving average of $53.06.

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

EQT Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at EQT

In related news, EVP Sarah Fenton sold 12,438 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 13,297 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $690,646.18. This represents a 48.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $219,594.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.65% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.