ING Groep NV Acquires Shares of 198,409 EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 198,409 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $9,149,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 32,484 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in shares of EQT by 36.7% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 133,142 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,878,000 after purchasing an additional 35,733 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of EQT by 44.2% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 53,555 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,379,000 after purchasing an additional 16,416 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of EQT by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,133,197 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $41,520,000 after purchasing an additional 28,129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of EQT by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 41,508 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,914,000 after purchasing an additional 5,489 shares in the last quarter. 90.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at EQT

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

EQT Price Performance

EQT stock opened at $50.15 on Friday. EQT Co. has a 12 month low of $30.02 and a 12 month high of $56.66. 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 company has a market capitalization of $29.92 billion, a PE ratio of 125.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $49.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.58.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.19. EQT had a return on equity of 4.82% and a net margin of 4.37%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. Analysts expect that EQT Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.1575 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 157.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on EQT. Mizuho raised EQT from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $57.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group increased their target price on EQT from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on EQT from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on EQT from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised EQT from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.17.

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.