EQT (NYSE:EQT) Sets New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $51.21 and last traded at $50.62, with a volume of 7395821 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $50.08.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on EQT shares. Bank of America initiated coverage on EQT in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Stephens raised their price objective on EQT from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on EQT from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $49.00 target price on shares of EQT in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of EQT from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. 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, EQT currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.67.

EQT Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.45. The company has a market cap of $30.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.26 and a beta of 1.12.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.35 billion. EQT had a return on equity of 3.74% and a net margin of 5.52%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that EQT Co. will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at EQT

In other EQT news, Director Thomas F. Karam sold 30,154 shares of EQT stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.83, for a total transaction of $1,351,803.82. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 201,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,038,086.64. The trade was a 13.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of EQT

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in EQT by 38.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 74,153,050 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,716,968,000 after acquiring an additional 20,700,921 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of EQT by 24.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,095,597 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,359,183,000 after purchasing an additional 7,290,822 shares during the period. Modera Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EQT during the 3rd quarter worth about $562,494,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in EQT by 34.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,997,574 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $511,159,000 after buying an additional 3,582,418 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in EQT by 2.9% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 9,084,686 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $335,952,000 after buying an additional 253,186 shares during the last quarter. 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.