Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Acquires 54,194 Shares of EQT Corporation $EQT

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. significantly increased its holdings in EQT Corporation by 471% during the first quarter, now owning 65,700 shares valued at approximately $3.5 million.
• EQT has received positive coverage from multiple analysts, with 15 analysts rating the stock as a Buy and having a consensus price target of $62.14.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.1575 per share, reflecting a yield of 1.2%, to be paid on September 2nd, with an ex-dividend date of August 6th.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT - Free Report) by 471.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 65,700 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after buying an additional 54,194 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.'s holdings in EQT were worth $3,510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EQT. Castle Hook Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of EQT by 199.5% in the 4th quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 3,990,714 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $184,012,000 after purchasing an additional 2,658,375 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of EQT in the first quarter valued at about $120,252,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of EQT by 2.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,039,340 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $3,955,922,000 after buying an additional 1,509,054 shares during the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of EQT in the fourth quarter valued at about $59,627,000. Finally, Third Point LLC raised its holdings in shares of EQT by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. Third Point LLC now owns 2,950,000 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $136,024,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.81% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at EQT

In related news, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 value of $646,029.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 13,297 shares of the company's stock, valued at $690,646.18. This 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 currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EQT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Roth Capital cut EQT from a "strong-buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the company from $75.00 to $57.00 in a report on Monday, August 18th. Melius initiated coverage on EQT in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $64.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on EQT from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of EQT in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 price objective (up from $60.00) on shares of EQT in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, EQT currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $62.14.

EQT Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of EQT stock 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 6,522,401. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.58. EQT Corporation has a 1-year low of $31.45 and a 1-year high of $61.02. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $54.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.11. 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). EQT had a return on equity of 6.24% and a net margin of 15.87%.The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.08) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that EQT Corporation will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

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

EQT Company 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.