Man Group plc Acquires New Holdings in EQT Corporation $EQT

Man Group plc bought a new stake in shares of EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 512,963 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $27,274,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EQT. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of EQT in the second quarter valued at approximately $420,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in shares of EQT during the second quarter valued at approximately $10,851,000. Flat Footed LLC acquired a new position in shares of EQT during the second quarter worth approximately $7,709,650,000. Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of EQT by 251.8% during the second quarter. Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC now owns 577 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 413 shares during the period. Finally, EFG International AG bought a new position in EQT in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,883,000. Institutional investors own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on EQT from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on EQT from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Freedom Capital raised EQT to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Citigroup lowered their price target on EQT from $70.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of EQT from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.10.

EQT Price Performance

NYSE EQT opened at $54.79 on Thursday. EQT Corporation has a 12 month low of $47.94 and a 12 month high of $68.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.27 billion, a PE ratio of 12.71 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.43.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $1.68 billion for 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%.EQT’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that EQT Corporation will post 3.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, August 5th. EQT’s payout ratio is currently 15.31%.

Insider Activity at EQT

In other news, CEO Toby Z. Rice sold 175,328 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at $118,747,310.95. This represents a 7.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 274,042 shares of company stock valued at $15,005,076. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.