Wellington Management Group LLP Grows Stock Holdings in EQT Corporation $EQT

Key Points

• Wellington Management increased its EQT stake by 41.4% in the second quarter, acquiring 6.6 million additional shares and bringing its holdings to 22.6 million shares, or 3.61% of the company.
• EQT’s latest quarterly results fell short of expectations, with earnings of $0.39 per share versus a $0.41 consensus and revenue of $1.68 billion versus $1.76 billion expected; revenue declined 29.2% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.165 per share, equivalent to a $0.66 annualized payout and a 1.2% yield. Analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $68.10.

Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT - Free Report) by 41.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,565,479 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after acquiring an additional 6,603,286 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 3.61% of EQT worth $1,199,807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in shares of EQT during the first quarter worth approximately $256,000. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in EQT by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 21,637 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $1,156,000 after buying an additional 1,789 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its position in EQT by 495.2% in the 2nd quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 128,060 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $7,468,000 after buying an additional 106,545 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in EQT by 39.4% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 30,617 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $1,786,000 after buying an additional 8,658 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC increased its stake in EQT by 43.6% in the 3rd quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 85,502 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $4,640,000 after buying an additional 25,971 shares during the period. 90.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at EQT

In related news, CEO Toby Z. Rice sold 175,328 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.03, for a total transaction of $9,648,299.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,157,865 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $118,747,310.95. The trade was a 7.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 274,042 shares of company stock valued at $15,005,076 in the last ninety days. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

EQT Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:EQT opened at $54.56 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $52.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.66 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. EQT Corporation has a 1 year low of $47.94 and a 1 year high of $68.24.

EQT (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.76 billion. EQT had a return on equity of 9.31% and a net margin of 28.44%.EQT's revenue for the quarter was down 29.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that EQT Corporation will post 3.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 5th will be paid a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 5th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. EQT's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on EQT shares. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of EQT from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of EQT from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of EQT in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of EQT from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of EQT from $72.00 to $68.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $68.10.

EQT Company Profile

EQT Corporation NYSE: EQT is a U.S.-based energy company focused on the exploration, development and production of natural gas. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the company concentrates its upstream operations in the Appalachian Basin, producing from major shale formations including the Marcellus and Utica. EQT's primary product is natural gas, with production activities supported by associated liquids and conventional gas assets where applicable.

In addition to drilling and well development, EQT operates and coordinates the infrastructure and commercial activities necessary to bring gas to market.

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