Viking Fund Management LLC Sells 25,000 Shares of EQT Corporation $EQT

Viking Fund Management LLC decreased its position in shares of EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 50,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 25,000 shares during the period. Viking Fund Management LLC’s holdings in EQT were worth $2,428,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in EQT during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Community Bank N.A. increased its position in shares of EQT by 198.9% during the 2nd quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 523 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of EQT by 76.0% during the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 528 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of EQT by 251.8% in the 2nd quarter. Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC now owns 577 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of EQT in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. 90.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on EQT. Barclays cut their price objective on EQT from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 17th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $71.00 target price on shares of EQT in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on EQT from $74.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of EQT from $75.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of EQT in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.68.

Insider Transactions at EQT

In other news, CEO Toby Rice sold 175,328 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was 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 owned 2,157,865 shares in the company, valued at $118,747,310.95. This represents a 7.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

EQT Stock Down 3.2%

EQT stock opened at $52.71 on Thursday. EQT Corporation has a 52-week low of $47.94 and a 52-week high of $68.24. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.15 and a beta of 0.66.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.02). EQT had a net margin of 28.44% and a return on equity of 9.31%. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 29.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that EQT Corporation will post 3.90 EPS for the current year.

EQT Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is an increase from EQT’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.1650. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.31%.

EQT Profile

EQT Corporation is a natural gas producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company explores for, develops, and produces natural gas, natural gas liquids, and crude oil, with its operations concentrated in the Appalachian Basin, particularly the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.

In addition to its upstream production activities, EQT has interests in the midstream infrastructure used to gather, process, transport, and store natural gas. These assets support the movement of production from well sites to regional and interstate markets.