Man Group plc Lowers Position in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

Man Group plc reduced its holdings in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT - Free Report) by 84.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,861 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 158,169 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc's holdings in EQT were worth $1,377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in EQT by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,530,286 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $3,344,371,000 after buying an additional 358,649 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in EQT by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,427,307 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $663,552,000 after buying an additional 429,733 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in EQT by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,855,244 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $638,867,000 after buying an additional 2,433,632 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in EQT by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,829,938 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $637,698,000 after buying an additional 1,774,696 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in EQT by 46.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,143,774 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $606,059,000 after buying an additional 4,162,065 shares during the last quarter. 90.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on EQT shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded EQT from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on EQT from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Stephens decreased their price target on EQT from $59.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "reduce" rating on shares of EQT in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on EQT from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.11.

EQT Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EQT traded down $1.23 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $55.33. 2,998,202 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,447,698. EQT Co. has a 52-week low of $30.02 and a 52-week high of $57.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The company has a 50-day moving average of $52.20 and a 200-day moving average of $49.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 138.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.59.

EQT (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.20. EQT had a return on equity of 4.35% and a net margin of 4.37%. The firm had revenue of $2.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.16 billion. Analysts forecast that EQT Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.1575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. EQT's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.53%.

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.