Traders Buy Large Volume of EQT Call Options (NYSE:EQT)

EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 11,978 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 41% compared to the typical daily volume of 8,521 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of EQT in a research note on Friday, September 13th. StockNews.com upgraded EQT to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Mizuho increased their price target on EQT from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research started coverage on EQT in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $51.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on EQT from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.83.

EQT Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQT opened at $40.69 on Friday. EQT has a 52 week low of $30.02 and a 52 week high of $42.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $17.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.42 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $35.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.64.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last issued its earnings results 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. EQT had a net margin of 5.52% and a return on equity of 3.74%. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that EQT will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be issued a $0.1575 dividend. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. EQT’s payout ratio is presently 75.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EQT

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EQT. Modera Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in EQT in the 3rd quarter worth $562,494,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of EQT by 22.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 64,877,405 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,405,007,000 after acquiring an additional 11,993,729 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of EQT by 8.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,865,664 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,885,590,000 after acquiring an additional 3,942,802 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP acquired a new position in EQT in the 3rd quarter valued at $89,907,000. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in EQT during the 2nd quarter worth $69,452,000. 90.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.