EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) Short Interest Up 21.2% in February

EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 20,260,000 shares, a growth of 21.2% from the February 13th total of 16,710,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,200,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days. Currently, 3.4% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on EQT. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “reduce” rating on shares of EQT in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $49.00 price target on shares of EQT in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial upped their price target on EQT from $41.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on EQT from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded EQT from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $73.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, EQT presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EQT

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Atria Investments Inc bought a new position in EQT in the 3rd quarter worth $201,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in EQT by 216.2% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 737,309 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $27,015,000 after purchasing an additional 504,113 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in EQT by 28.1% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,875 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $692,000 after purchasing an additional 4,145 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in EQT by 245.8% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 26,387 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $967,000 after purchasing an additional 18,757 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in EQT by 112.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 41,637 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,526,000 after purchasing an additional 22,064 shares during the period. 90.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

EQT Stock Performance

Shares of EQT stock traded up $0.98 on Wednesday, reaching $53.54. The stock had a trading volume of 4,574,248 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,267,225. The stock has a market cap of $31.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 133.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.12. EQT has a 1 year low of $30.02 and a 1 year high of $56.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.70. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.85.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. EQT had a return on equity of 4.35% and a net margin of 4.37%. Equities research analysts expect that EQT will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.1575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 157.50%.

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.