EP Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in EQT Corporation $EQT

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 11,214 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $596,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in EQT in the 1st quarter worth about $256,000. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in shares of EQT by 9.0% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 21,637 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after buying an additional 1,789 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its position in shares of EQT by 495.2% during the second quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 128,060 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $7,468,000 after buying an additional 106,545 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of EQT by 39.4% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 30,617 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,786,000 after buying an additional 8,658 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of EQT by 43.6% in the third quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 85,502 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,640,000 after buying an additional 25,971 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

EQT Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:EQT opened at $53.76 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.63 billion, a PE ratio of 12.47 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. EQT Corporation has a 12-month low of $47.94 and a 12-month high of $68.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.45.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.02). EQT had a net margin of 28.44% and a return on equity of 9.31%. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. EQT’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that EQT Corporation will post 3.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 5th will be given a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 5th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. EQT’s payout ratio is presently 15.31%.

Insider Activity at EQT

In other EQT news, CEO Toby Z. Rice sold 175,328 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.03, for a total value of $9,648,299.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,157,865 shares in the company, valued at $118,747,310.95. This trade represents a 7.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 274,042 shares of company stock worth $15,005,076. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on EQT. Wall Street Zen downgraded EQT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of EQT in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of EQT from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of EQT from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of EQT from $70.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.10.

About EQT

EQT Corporation (NYSE: EQT) is a U.S.-based energy company focused on the exploration, development and production of natural gas. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the company concentrates its upstream operations in the Appalachian Basin, producing from major shale formations including the Marcellus and Utica. EQT’s primary product is natural gas, with production activities supported by associated liquids and conventional gas assets where applicable.

In addition to drilling and well development, EQT operates and coordinates the infrastructure and commercial activities necessary to bring gas to market.