2,396,459 Shares in EQT Corporation $EQT Purchased by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 2,396,459 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $127,420,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of EQT during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,204,125,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in EQT in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $512,148,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in EQT in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $163,705,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in EQT in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $119,461,000. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor bought a new position in EQT in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $110,177,000. 90.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on EQT from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings downgraded EQT from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on EQT from $72.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stephens lifted their price objective on EQT from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on EQT from $74.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.10.

EQT Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of EQT stock opened at $54.85 on Friday. EQT Corporation has a 12-month low of $47.94 and a 12-month high of $68.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $52.25 and its 200 day moving average is $56.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.73 and a beta of 0.58.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. EQT had a return on equity of 9.31% and a net margin of 28.44%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. Research analysts expect that EQT Corporation will post 3.97 earnings per share for the current year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at EQT

In related news, CEO Toby Z. Rice sold 175,328 shares of EQT 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $118,747,310.95. The trade was a 7.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 274,042 shares of company stock valued at $15,005,076 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

EQT 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.