National Pension Service Acquires 44,713 Shares of EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

National Pension Service raised its position in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT - Free Report) by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 756,413 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after buying an additional 44,713 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned 0.17% of EQT worth $27,715,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Modera Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in EQT during the third quarter valued at about $562,494,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of EQT by 22.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 64,877,405 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $2,405,007,000 after acquiring an additional 11,993,729 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of EQT by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,865,664 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $1,885,590,000 after purchasing an additional 3,942,802 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP bought a new stake in shares of EQT in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $89,907,000. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP purchased a new position in EQT in the second quarter valued at approximately $69,452,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.81% of the company's stock.

EQT Price Performance

NYSE EQT traded up $0.53 during trading on Friday, reaching $41.22. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,800,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,049,483. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $35.56 and a 200 day moving average of $36.64. EQT Co. has a one year low of $30.02 and a one year high of $42.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.60 billion, a PE ratio of 49.01 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.51.

EQT (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.12 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.30 earnings per share. EQT's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that EQT Co. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.1575 per share. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. EQT's dividend payout ratio is currently 75.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on EQT shares. Bank of America assumed coverage on EQT in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Mizuho lifted their price objective on EQT from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup raised shares of EQT from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $44.00 in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Stephens increased their target price on shares of EQT from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of EQT in a research report on Friday, September 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.83.

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.