Morgan Stanley Raises EQT (NYSE:EQT) Price Target to $49.00

EQT (NYSE:EQT - Free Report) had its price target raised by Morgan Stanley from $37.00 to $49.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the oil and gas producer's stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective on EQT from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on EQT from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded EQT from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $27.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on EQT from $48.00 to $43.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of EQT in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $43.80.

EQT Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQT traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $36.22. 6,788,451 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,438,281. EQT has a 12-month low of $30.84 and a 12-month high of $45.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a market cap of $15.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.52 and a beta of 1.12. The business's fifty day moving average price is $35.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.08.

EQT (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. EQT had a return on equity of 7.12% and a net margin of 25.12%. EQT's quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that EQT will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be paid a $0.1575 dividend. This represents a $0.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. EQT's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.82%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EQT. Capital World Investors purchased a new stake in shares of EQT during the first quarter worth about $497,156,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of EQT by 61.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,687,594 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $798,923,000 after purchasing an additional 7,526,875 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of EQT by 6,029.6% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 6,424,264 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $221,059,000 after purchasing an additional 6,319,457 shares in the last quarter. PointState Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of EQT during the first quarter worth about $163,646,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of EQT by 66.1% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 11,115,761 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $382,493,000 after purchasing an additional 4,423,003 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.81% of the company's stock.

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.