Jefferies Financial Group Cuts EQT (NYSE:EQT) Price Target to $68.00

EQT (NYSE:EQT) had its target price trimmed by Jefferies Financial Group from $70.00 to $68.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on EQT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of EQT from $64.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on EQT from $63.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. UBS Group upped their target price on EQT from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Melius initiated coverage on EQT in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $64.00 price target for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of EQT from $62.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.95.

EQT Stock Up 0.6%

EQT stock opened at $56.12 on Thursday. EQT has a 12 month low of $35.44 and a 12 month high of $61.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $35.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $51.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.41.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 billion. EQT had a return on equity of 6.24% and a net margin of 15.87%.During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.08) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that EQT will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 6th were issued a $0.1575 dividend. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 6th. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at EQT

In other news, EVP Sarah Fenton sold 12,438 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.94, for a total transaction of $646,029.72. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 13,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $690,646.18. The trade was a 48.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Vicky A. Bailey sold 4,259 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.56, for a total transaction of $219,594.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EQT

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new position in EQT during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its stake in EQT by 48.4% in the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 693 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in EQT in the second quarter valued at about $41,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its stake in EQT by 133.3% during the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 875 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in EQT by 38.1% during the 2nd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,026 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

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.