Brokerages Set EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) Price Target at $52.39

Shares of EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $52.39.

EQT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of EQT from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of EQT to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 8th. Mizuho raised shares of EQT from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $48.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of EQT from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of EQT from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EQT

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EQT. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in EQT by 168.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,684 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 1,686 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in EQT by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 14,234 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $522,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in EQT in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,616,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in EQT in the 3rd quarter valued at about $229,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of EQT by 151.3% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,093 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 1,260 shares in the last quarter. 90.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

EQT Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQT opened at $50.18 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 125.44, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.08. EQT has a 12 month low of $30.02 and a 12 month high of $56.66. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.51.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. Analysts expect that EQT will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.1575 dividend. This represents a $0.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. EQT’s dividend payout ratio is currently 157.50%.

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.