The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Trims Stock Position in EQT Corporation $EQT

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its stake in EQT Corporation by 8.8%, holding approximately 1.9 million shares valued at about $101.9 million at the end of the first quarter.
• Insider sales included 12,438 shares sold by EVP Sarah Fenton and 4,259 shares sold by Director Vicky A. Bailey, reflecting significant decreases in their ownership.
• EQT's quarterly earnings report showed an EPS of $0.45, missing estimates, and the company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.1575 per share.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company decreased its stake in shares of EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT - Free Report) by 8.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,906,519 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 182,961 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.32% of EQT worth $101,865,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in EQT by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,582 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in EQT by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,281 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $416,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the period. Generali Investments Management Co LLC increased its stake in EQT by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Generali Investments Management Co LLC now owns 1,711 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $91,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the period. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in EQT by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,783 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the period. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. increased its stake in EQT by 48.4% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 693 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.81% of the company's stock.

EQT Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of EQT stock traded down $0.10 on Thursday, reaching $51.45. The stock had a trading volume of 2,385,608 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,232,909. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $53.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. EQT Corporation has a 1 year low of $31.45 and a 1 year high of $61.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.58.

EQT (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.45 earnings per share (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 analysts' expectations of $1.78 billion. EQT had a return on equity of 6.24% and a net margin of 15.87%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.08) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that EQT Corporation will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

EQT Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at EQT

In other EQT news, EVP Sarah Fenton sold 12,438 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $690,646.18. The trade was a 48.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Vicky A. Bailey sold 4,259 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.56, for a total transaction of $219,594.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho raised shares of EQT to an "outperform" rating and set a $66.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of EQT in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of EQT from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price 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. Finally, Roth Capital downgraded shares of EQT from a "strong-buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $75.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $62.14.

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.