Raymond James Financial Inc. Grows Stock Position in EQT Corporation $EQT

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in EQT Corporation by 3.3% during the first quarter, owning nearly 2.6 million shares valued at approximately $136.4 million.
• Several large investors, including Mariner LLC and BI Asset Management, significantly boosted their positions in EQT, highlighting growing institutional interest in the company.
• Despite these investments, EQT reported missed earnings for the last quarter, with $0.45 EPS, falling short of the $0.52 consensus estimate.

Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT - Free Report) by 3.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,552,699 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after purchasing an additional 81,999 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.43% of EQT worth $136,391,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of EQT. Wedbush Securities Inc. bought a new stake in EQT during the 1st quarter valued at $216,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in EQT by 36.3% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 205,679 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $10,989,000 after acquiring an additional 54,779 shares in the last quarter. Kingsman Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in EQT during the 1st quarter valued at $1,284,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in EQT by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,661 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Philadelphia Trust Co. boosted its position in EQT by 665.8% during the 1st quarter. Philadelphia Trust Co. now owns 54,371 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $2,905,000 after acquiring an additional 47,271 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.81% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Roth Capital cut EQT from a "strong-buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $75.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 target price (up previously from $60.00) on shares of EQT in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group raised their price objective on EQT from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of EQT in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on EQT from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $62.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other EQT news, EVP Sarah Fenton sold 12,438 shares of EQT stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 13,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $690,646.18. This trade represents a 48.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Vicky A. Bailey sold 4,259 shares of EQT stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.56, for a total value of $219,594.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.65% of the company's stock.

EQT Stock Performance

EQT stock traded down $0.1340 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $51.9160. The stock had a trading volume of 4,768,066 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,190,374. The stock has a market cap of $32.40 billion, a PE ratio of 28.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 0.59. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.14. EQT Corporation has a 52-week low of $31.45 and a 52-week high of $61.02.

EQT (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during 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 last year, the business earned ($0.08) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that EQT Corporation will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The company 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%.

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.