Park Avenue Securities LLC Boosts Stake in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) by 3.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,153 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in EQT were worth $302,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in EQT by 61.9% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of EQT by 8.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,899,640 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,822,027,000 after buying an additional 3,539,661 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in EQT by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 52,883,676 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,044,484,000 after acquiring an additional 3,159,700 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in EQT by 4,680.4% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,868,030 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $110,854,000 after acquiring an additional 2,808,034 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Third Point LLC acquired a new position in EQT during the 4th quarter worth $75,387,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on EQT. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of EQT from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of EQT in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of EQT from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of EQT in a report on Friday, April 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of EQT from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $27.00 to $34.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.24.

EQT Stock Down 0.8 %

EQT stock opened at $36.98 on Monday. EQT Co. has a 52 week low of $32.07 and a 52 week high of $45.23. The stock has a market cap of $16.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.80 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $39.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.17. EQT had a return on equity of 4.57% and a net margin of 10.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 28.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that EQT Co. will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th were given a $0.1575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $0.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.65%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP William E. Jordan sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.72, for a total transaction of $1,425,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 456,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,602,402.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Lesley Evancho sold 46,884 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total transaction of $1,935,840.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 160,884 shares in the company, valued at $6,642,900.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP William E. Jordan sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.72, for a total transaction of $1,425,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 456,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,602,402.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

EQT 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.