EQT Corporation $EQT Stake Reduced by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) by 2.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,273,496 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 29,077 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of EQT worth $61,841,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of EQT in the 3rd quarter valued at $7,762,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of EQT during the third quarter worth $29,000. Vise Technologies Inc. raised its stake in EQT by 8.3% during the third quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 6,116 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC raised its stake in EQT by 42.3% during the third quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 12,374 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $601,000 after buying an additional 3,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming raised its stake in EQT by 26.4% during the third quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,379 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at EQT

In other EQT news, CEO Toby Rice sold 175,328 shares of EQT stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was 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 owned 2,157,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $118,747,310.95. The trade was a 7.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on EQT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of EQT in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Freedom Broker dropped their price objective on EQT from $81.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on EQT from $79.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. Barclays cut their target price on EQT from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Zacks Research raised EQT from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.00.

EQT Stock Down 1.1%

EQT stock opened at $54.25 on Wednesday. EQT Corporation has a twelve month low of $47.94 and a twelve month high of $68.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $53.23 and its 200-day moving average is $55.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.93 billion, a PE ratio of 13.57 and a beta of 0.68.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.05. EQT had a net margin of 28.40% and a return on equity of 8.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that EQT Corporation will post 3.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 4th. This is a positive change from EQT’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.1650. EQT’s payout ratio is presently 15.64%.

About EQT

EQT Corporation is a natural gas exploration and production company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company develops and operates unconventional oil and gas properties, with a primary focus on natural gas and natural gas liquids produced from shale formations.

EQT’s operations are concentrated in the Appalachian Basin, particularly the Marcellus and Utica shale formations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. Its activities include drilling, completion, production and management of natural gas wells, along with related gathering and infrastructure operations that support the transportation of its products to market.

The company traces its roots to Equitable Gas, founded in 1878, and has evolved through multiple stages of expansion and restructuring in the U.S.