EQT Corporation $EQT Shares Sold by Fox Run Management L.L.C.

Key Points

• Fox Run Management L.L.C. has significantly reduced its stake in EQT Corporation by 50.3%, selling 18,210 shares during the first quarter and now holding around 17,976 shares valued at approximately $960,000.
• Major institutional investors, such as Neuberger Berman Group LLC and Westpac Banking Corp, have increased their positions in EQT, indicating strong investor interest, with institutional ownership now at 90.81%.
• Despite recent growth forecasts from analysts, EQT reported lower than expected earnings of $0.45 EPS, missing estimates, along with a quarterly revenue that fell short of analyst predictions at $1.60 billion.

Fox Run Management L.L.C. decreased its position in EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT - Free Report) by 50.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,976 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 18,210 shares during the period. Fox Run Management L.L.C.'s holdings in EQT were worth $960,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in EQT by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,039,340 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $3,955,922,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509,054 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in EQT by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,855,244 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $638,867,000 after acquiring an additional 2,433,632 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in EQT by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,579,269 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $257,260,000 after acquiring an additional 851,087 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in EQT by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,204,106 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $278,055,000 after acquiring an additional 110,249 shares during the period. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its stake in EQT by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,191,780 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $277,397,000 after acquiring an additional 484,671 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.81% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on EQT. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 target price (up previously from $60.00) on shares of EQT in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Roth Capital cut shares of EQT from a "strong-buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $75.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of EQT from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of EQT from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays upped 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. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.71.

EQT Stock Up 1.3%

EQT traded up $0.6680 on Wednesday, hitting $51.2080. The company had a trading volume of 2,499,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,348,635. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $55.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.14. EQT Corporation has a 12-month low of $31.45 and a 12-month high of $61.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 0.59.

EQT (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) last issued 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). The business had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the business posted ($0.08) EPS. Analysts predict that EQT Corporation will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 6th will be paid a $0.1575 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 6th. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. EQT's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Vicky A. Bailey sold 4,259 shares of EQT stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.56, for a total value of $219,594.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sarah Fenton sold 12,438 shares of EQT 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 13,297 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. 0.65% of the stock is owned by company 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.