Commerce Bank Invests $1.82 Million in EQT Corporation $EQT

Commerce Bank bought a new stake in EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 34,227 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,820,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in EQT in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,204,125,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in EQT in the second quarter valued at approximately $512,148,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in EQT in the second quarter valued at approximately $119,461,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor purchased a new stake in shares of EQT during the second quarter valued at approximately $110,177,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of EQT during the second quarter valued at approximately $78,630,000. 90.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

EQT Stock Performance

Shares of EQT opened at $54.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $33.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.53 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business’s 50 day moving average is $52.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.44. EQT Corporation has a 52-week low of $47.94 and a 52-week high of $68.24.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. EQT had a return on equity of 9.31% and a net margin of 28.44%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 29.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. Analysts forecast that EQT Corporation will post 3.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other EQT news, CEO Toby Z. Rice sold 175,328 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.03, for a total transaction of $9,648,299.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,157,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $118,747,310.95. This trade represents a 7.51% decrease in their position. 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 90 days, insiders have sold 274,042 shares of company stock worth $15,005,076. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of EQT from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Freedom Capital raised shares of EQT to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of EQT from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of EQT from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of EQT from $72.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.10.

EQT Company Profile

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.