EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and twelve have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $55.56.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on EQT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised EQT from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $73.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “reduce” rating on shares of EQT in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of EQT from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of EQT from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of EQT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th.

EQT Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of EQT stock opened at $51.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.52, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $50.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.51. EQT has a twelve month low of $30.02 and a twelve month high of $56.66.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.19. EQT had a net margin of 4.37% and a return on equity of 4.35%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. Research analysts forecast that EQT will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.1575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $0.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 157.50%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EQT

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in EQT by 29.3% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 17,895 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $656,000 after purchasing an additional 4,057 shares during the last quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of EQT during the third quarter worth approximately $878,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in EQT by 104.7% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 63,507 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,327,000 after acquiring an additional 32,484 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in EQT in the third quarter valued at $165,000. Finally, Blankinship & Foster LLC bought a new position in EQT during the 3rd quarter valued at $4,051,000. 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.