Reaves W H & Co. Inc. Buys New Position in EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT)

Key Points

• Reaves W H & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in EQT Corporation, purchasing 112,618 shares valued at approximately $6,017,000 during the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Capital International Investors and Invesco Ltd., increased their stakes in EQT, highlighting a growing interest as 90.81% of the stock is now owned by institutional investors.
• EQT's quarterly earnings revealed an EPS of $0.45, below analysts' expectations of $0.52, and the company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.1575 per share, equating to an annual yield of 1.2%.

Reaves W H & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 112,618 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock, valued at approximately $6,017,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in EQT by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,855,244 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $638,867,000 after buying an additional 2,433,632 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in EQT by 46.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,143,774 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $606,059,000 after buying an additional 4,162,065 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in EQT by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,579,269 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $257,260,000 after buying an additional 851,087 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its stake in EQT by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 4,707,109 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $217,044,000 after buying an additional 525,533 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in EQT by 7.2% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,658,814 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $251,017,000 after buying an additional 311,154 shares during the period. 90.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on EQT. Barclays boosted their price target on EQT from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on EQT from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered EQT from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 target price (up from $60.00) on shares of EQT in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of EQT in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $60.84.

EQT Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE EQT opened at $51.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.01, a PEG ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.18. EQT Corporation has a 12 month low of $30.02 and a 12 month high of $61.02.

EQT (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 company earned ($0.08) EPS. On average, analysts predict that EQT Corporation will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at EQT

In other EQT news, EVP Sarah Fenton sold 12,438 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $690,646.18. This represents a 48.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

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