EQT (NYSE:EQT) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $61.06 and last traded at $60.72, with a volume of 9086064 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $58.94.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on EQT. Citigroup raised their price objective on EQT from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on EQT from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of EQT from $64.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of EQT from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of EQT from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.52.

EQT Stock Up 3.0%

The business has a 50 day moving average of $53.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.89 billion, a PE ratio of 20.79, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.58.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 billion. EQT had a return on equity of 6.88% and a net margin of 22.59%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 52.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.12 earnings per share. Analysts predict that EQT Corporation will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

EQT Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. This is a boost from EQT’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 5th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP J.E.B. Bolen sold 1,422 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.79, for a total transaction of $75,067.38. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 69,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,668,165.94. This represents a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.65% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EQT. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in EQT in the first quarter valued at $120,252,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of EQT by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,039,340 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,955,922,000 after buying an additional 1,509,054 shares during the period. Sound Shore Management Inc CT purchased a new stake in shares of EQT in the second quarter worth about $67,539,000. Ninepoint Partners LP grew its holdings in EQT by 200.0% during the first quarter. Ninepoint Partners LP now owns 1,500,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $80,145,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. Finally, Situational Awareness LP purchased a new position in EQT during the first quarter valued at approximately $52,864,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

About EQT

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.