MetLife Investment Management LLC Raises Position in EQT Corporation $EQT

Key Points

• MetLife Investment Management LLC significantly increased its holdings in EQT Corporation by 49.6% in Q1, now owning 238,546 shares valued at approximately $12.7 million.
• A number of research firms have raised their price targets for EQT, with Bank of America setting the highest at $80, highlighting a positive outlook on the stock.
• EQT recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.1575 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 1.2%, with a current payout ratio of 34.05%.

MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT - Free Report) by 49.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 238,546 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after acquiring an additional 79,138 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in EQT were worth $12,746,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. IHT Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in EQT during the fourth quarter worth $207,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of EQT by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 16,945 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $781,000 after buying an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of EQT during the 4th quarter worth approximately $420,000. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new stake in shares of EQT during the 4th quarter worth approximately $961,000. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of EQT by 26.1% during the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,228 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $887,000 after acquiring an additional 3,985 shares in the last quarter. 90.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Melius assumed coverage on shares of EQT in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $64.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho upgraded shares of EQT to an "outperform" rating and set a $66.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of EQT in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $70.00 price target (up from $60.00) on shares of EQT in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Roth Capital lowered 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 research report on Monday, August 18th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $62.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at EQT

In other EQT news, Director Vicky A. Bailey sold 4,259 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.56, for a total transaction of $219,594.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Sarah Fenton sold 12,438 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

EQT Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQT traded down $0.47 during trading on Friday, hitting $51.90. 6,310,318 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,286,679. The company has a market cap of $32.39 billion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $54.19 and a 200 day moving average of $53.11. EQT Corporation has a 52-week low of $31.45 and a 52-week 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.08) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that EQT Corporation will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend 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 presently 34.05%.

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.