EQT Corporation $EQT Stake Lowered by Palo Duro Investment Partners LP

Key Points

• Palo Duro Investment Partners LP reduced its stake in EQT Corporation by 8.4%, selling 142,378 shares and retaining a total of 1,555,660 shares in the oil and gas producer.
• EQT Corporation reported $0.45 EPS in its latest quarterly earnings, which missed analysts' estimates, alongside a revenue of $1.60 billion compared to an expectation of $1.78 billion.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.1575 per share, representing a 1.2% yield and a dividend payout ratio of 34.05%.

Palo Duro Investment Partners LP trimmed its holdings in shares of EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT - Free Report) by 8.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,555,660 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 142,378 shares during the period. EQT accounts for about 25.1% of Palo Duro Investment Partners LP's holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Palo Duro Investment Partners LP owned about 0.26% of EQT worth $83,119,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV lifted its stake in EQT by 1.6% during the first quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 69,186 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $3,697,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in EQT by 26.9% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 38,229 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $2,043,000 after purchasing an additional 8,108 shares in the last quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. lifted its position in shares of EQT by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 76,940 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $4,111,000 after buying an additional 6,390 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of EQT by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 58,714 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $3,137,000 after buying an additional 3,324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of EQT by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 19,356 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $1,034,000 after buying an additional 2,411 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.81% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on EQT shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target 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. Bank of America boosted their target price on EQT from $63.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $70.00 target price (up from $60.00) on shares of EQT in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Scotiabank raised their price target on EQT from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded EQT to an "outperform" rating and set a $66.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $62.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Sarah Fenton sold 12,438 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 13,297 shares in the company, valued at $690,646.18. The trade was a 48.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Vicky A. Bailey sold 4,259 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 corporate insiders.

EQT Stock Performance

EQT stock traded down $0.20 during trading on Thursday, hitting $50.97. The company had a trading volume of 4,499,416 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,168,776. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $53.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $31.81 billion, a PE ratio of 27.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.58. EQT Corporation has a 1-year low of $31.67 and a 1-year high of $61.02.

EQT (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.78 billion. EQT had a net margin of 15.87% and a return on equity of 6.24%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.08) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that EQT Corporation will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 6th were paid a $0.1575 dividend. 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%.

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.