New York State Common Retirement Fund Trims Stock Position in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its position in shares of EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 571,932 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 11,787 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.10% of EQT worth $26,372,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EQT. HM Payson & Co. purchased a new stake in EQT in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in EQT in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Quarry LP raised its position in EQT by 184.7% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 891 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new stake in EQT in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Financial Avengers Inc. raised its position in EQT by 100.8% in the third quarter. Financial Avengers Inc. now owns 1,004 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at EQT

In other EQT news, Director Thomas F. Karam sold 30,154 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.83, for a total value of $1,351,803.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 201,608 shares in the company, valued at $9,038,086.64. This represents a 13.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

EQT Stock Performance

Shares of EQT stock opened at $50.15 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. EQT Co. has a 12 month low of $30.02 and a 12 month high of $56.66. The company has a market cap of $29.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 125.37, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $49.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.58.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.19. EQT had a net margin of 4.37% and a return on equity of 4.82%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that EQT Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.1575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. EQT’s dividend payout ratio is presently 157.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho raised EQT from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $48.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on EQT from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank lowered EQT from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America initiated coverage on EQT in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on EQT from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.17.

EQT 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.