EQT (NYSE:EQT) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $44.32, but opened at $46.35. EQT shares last traded at $45.81, with a volume of 2,053,760 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on EQT. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on EQT from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of EQT from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $49.00 target price on shares of EQT in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of EQT from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on EQT in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.61.

EQT Trading Up 4.9 %

The business has a 50-day moving average of $42.41 and a 200 day moving average of $37.62. The stock has a market cap of $27.73 billion, a PE ratio of 55.33 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.51.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.35 billion. EQT had a net margin of 5.52% and a return on equity of 3.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that EQT Co. will post 1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were paid a dividend of $0.1575 per share. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. EQT’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.00%.

Insider Transactions at EQT

In related news, Director Thomas F. Karam sold 30,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.83, for a total value of $1,351,803.82. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 201,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,038,086.64. This trade represents a 13.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EQT

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of EQT by 104.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 63,507 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,327,000 after buying an additional 32,484 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in EQT by 36.7% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 133,142 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,878,000 after acquiring an additional 35,733 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of EQT by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,133,197 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $41,520,000 after purchasing an additional 28,129 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of EQT by 55.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 60,816 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,228,000 after purchasing an additional 21,789 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of EQT by 34.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,997,574 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $511,159,000 after purchasing an additional 3,582,418 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

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.