EQT (NYSE:EQT) Price Target Raised to $55.00

EQT (NYSE:EQT) had its target price increased by Jefferies Financial Group from $45.00 to $55.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on EQT. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective on shares of EQT in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on EQT from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com upgraded EQT to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, December 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on EQT from $44.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on EQT from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, EQT currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.78.

EQT Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of EQT stock opened at $47.02 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $43.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.90. EQT has a 12-month low of $30.02 and a 12-month high of $48.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $28.06 billion, a PE ratio of 55.98 and a beta of 1.12.

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

EQT Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were paid a $0.1575 dividend. This represents a $0.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. EQT’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other EQT news, Director Thomas F. Karam sold 30,154 shares of the business’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 transaction of $1,351,803.82. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 201,608 shares in the company, valued at $9,038,086.64. The trade was a 13.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EQT

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in EQT by 38.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 74,153,050 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,716,968,000 after purchasing an additional 20,700,921 shares in the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EQT in the third quarter valued at about $562,494,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of EQT by 24.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,095,597 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,359,183,000 after buying an additional 7,290,822 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 3,582,418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in EQT in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $97,979,000. 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.