Texas Yale Capital Corp. Grows Holdings in EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT)

Key Points

• Texas Yale Capital Corp. increased its stake in EQT Corporation by 61.8% in the first quarter, bringing its holdings to approximately $7.10 million.
• Multiple large investors have expanded their positions in EQT, with Invesco Ltd. and Castle Hook Partners LP increasing their stakes significantly during the fourth quarter.
• EQT is currently rated as a "Moderate Buy" by analysts, with a consensus price target of $60.84 following recent upgrades from several firms.

Texas Yale Capital Corp. grew its position in shares of EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT - Free Report) by 61.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 132,929 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after buying an additional 50,770 shares during the period. Texas Yale Capital Corp.'s holdings in EQT were worth $7,102,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of EQT by 46.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,143,774 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $606,059,000 after purchasing an additional 4,162,065 shares during the period. Slate Path Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of EQT in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $123,575,000. Castle Hook Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of EQT by 199.5% during 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. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of EQT by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,855,244 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $638,867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,433,632 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in EQT by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,829,938 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $637,698,000 after acquiring an additional 1,774,696 shares during the period. 90.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on EQT. Barclays upped their target price on shares of EQT from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of EQT in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of EQT from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $54.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of EQT from $59.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Roth Capital started coverage on shares of EQT in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $69.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.84.

EQT Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQT traded down $0.26 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $51.93. The stock had a trading volume of 15,070,154 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,569,899. EQT Corporation has a 1 year low of $30.02 and a 1 year high of $61.02. The company has a market cap of $32.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 0.65. 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's 50 day moving average price is $56.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.13.

EQT (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.07). EQT had a net margin of 15.87% and a return on equity of 6.24%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.08) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that EQT Corporation will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 6th will be given 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 1.21%. EQT's payout ratio is currently 34.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 owned 13,297 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $690,646.18. This represents a 48.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.65% of the stock is owned by 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.