Swiss National Bank Acquires 437,602 Shares of EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) by 35.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,677,261 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 437,602 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in EQT were worth $61,455,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of EQT. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in shares of EQT during the first quarter worth approximately $2,274,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its holdings in EQT by 563.1% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 29,102 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,079,000 after acquiring an additional 24,713 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of EQT during the 1st quarter valued at $4,073,000. Virtu Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of EQT by 184.3% during the 1st quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 53,138 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,970,000 after purchasing an additional 34,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of EQT by 71.7% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 215,158 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $7,883,000 after purchasing an additional 89,866 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

EQT Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of EQT stock opened at $44.08 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $26.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.48 and a beta of 1.06. EQT Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.02 and a fifty-two week high of $44.62. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.51.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.06. EQT had a net margin of 5.52% and a return on equity of 3.74%. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. EQT’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that EQT Co. will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.1575 per share. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on EQT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of EQT from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of EQT from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Citigroup raised EQT from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $37.00 to $44.00 in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com raised EQT to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on EQT from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.83.

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.