Investors Buy High Volume of Put Options on EQT (NYSE:EQT)

EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors acquired 9,198 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 41% compared to the average daily volume of 6,513 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on EQT shares. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of EQT from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $32.00 in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on EQT from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Stephens lowered their price target on EQT from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com upgraded EQT to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of EQT in a report on Friday. One 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 target price of $43.82.

EQT Stock Performance

NYSE EQT opened at $33.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $14.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.05 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $33.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.55. EQT has a 1-year low of $30.02 and a 1-year high of $45.23.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.08) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.20) by $0.12. EQT had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 4.52%. The company had revenue of $952.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.17) EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that EQT will post 1.44 EPS for the current year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were paid a $0.1575 dividend. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. EQT’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.65%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in EQT during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in EQT in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of EQT by 149.5% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 998 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its holdings in shares of EQT by 936.1% in the 2nd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 1,005 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 908 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in EQT in the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. 90.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.