EQT Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:EQT)

EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors bought 50,875 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 350% compared to the average daily volume of 11,309 call options.

Institutional Trading of EQT

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. HM Payson & Co. bought a new stake in shares of EQT in the third quarter worth $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of EQT in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EQT in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of EQT by 18,080.0% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 909 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of EQT by 184.7% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 891 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. 90.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on EQT. UBS Group increased their price target on EQT from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com raised EQT to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of EQT from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of EQT from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of EQT from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $40.00 to $42.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.83.

EQT Price Performance

EQT stock opened at $46.53 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $27.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.39 and a beta of 1.06. 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 has a 1 year low of $30.02 and a 1 year high of $46.86. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.83.

EQT (NYSE:EQT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.35 billion. EQT had a net margin of 5.52% and a return on equity of 3.74%. EQT's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that EQT will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be issued a $0.1575 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. EQT's dividend payout ratio is currently 75.00%.

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.