EQT Corporation $EQT Shares Acquired by Rakuten Investment Management Inc.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) by 10.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 111,254 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,783 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in EQT were worth $5,438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EQT. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in EQT by 3,853.8% in the third quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 514 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. McAlvany Wealth Management LLC increased its position in EQT by 0.5% during the third quarter. McAlvany Wealth Management LLC now owns 82,270 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,995,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its position in EQT by 2.4% during the third quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 970,699 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $47,189,000 after acquiring an additional 22,411 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its position in EQT by 0.7% during the third quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 287,332 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $13,953,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of EQT in the third quarter valued at $7,762,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on EQT. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of EQT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of EQT from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of EQT in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Freedom Broker reduced their price objective on shares of EQT from $81.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on shares of EQT from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, EQT presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.00.

EQT Trading Down 2.3%

EQT traded down $1.16 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $49.46. 7,717,684 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,133,903. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $53.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.94 billion, a PE ratio of 11.72 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. EQT Corporation has a 52-week low of $47.94 and a 52-week high of $68.24.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.05. EQT had a return on equity of 8.89% and a net margin of 28.40%. The business had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that EQT Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders 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. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 4th. EQT’s payout ratio is presently 15.64%.

Insider Activity at EQT

In other news, CEO Toby Rice sold 175,328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.03, for a total value of $9,648,299.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,157,865 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

About EQT

EQT Corporation is a natural gas company focused on the exploration, development and production of natural gas in the Appalachian Basin. Its operations are concentrated in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio, including the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.

The company also operates midstream infrastructure that gathers and transports natural gas from production areas to pipelines and markets. This includes gathering systems and transmission assets serving the Appalachian region.

Headquartered in Pittsburgh, EQT traces its roots to the late 19th century and was formerly known as Equitable Resources.