EQT (NYSE:EQT) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of EQT (NYSE:EQT) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on EQT. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on EQT from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 13th. Freedom Capital raised shares of EQT to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of EQT from $70.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of EQT from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Evercore boosted their target price on shares of EQT from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.21.

EQT Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQT opened at $51.97 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $32.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $52.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.49. EQT has a fifty-two week low of $47.94 and a fifty-two week high of $68.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last announced 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). The company had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. EQT had a return on equity of 9.31% and a net margin of 28.44%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that EQT will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 5th will be issued a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 5th. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Toby Z. Rice sold 96,983 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.28, for a total value of $5,264,237.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,334,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $126,739,674.72. This represents a 3.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in EQT by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,159 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $700,000 after acquiring an additional 2,060 shares during the period. Miller Global Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of EQT by 3,066.4% during the second quarter. Miller Global Investments LLC now owns 7,916 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 7,666 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of EQT by 4.7% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 19,965 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,271,000 after purchasing an additional 890 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in shares of EQT by 112.2% in the first quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 40,189 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,558,000 after purchasing an additional 21,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montchanin Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in EQT in the 1st quarter worth about $260,000. Institutional investors own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

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.