EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) Stake Decreased by Principal Securities Inc.

Principal Securities Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) by 12.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,582 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 230 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in EQT were worth $73,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EQT. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of EQT by 104.7% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 63,507 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,327,000 after acquiring an additional 32,484 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in EQT by 36.7% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 133,142 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,878,000 after buying an additional 35,733 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in EQT by 44.2% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 53,555 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,379,000 after buying an additional 16,416 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in EQT by 2.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,133,197 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $41,520,000 after buying an additional 28,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in EQT by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 41,508 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,914,000 after buying an additional 5,489 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

EQT Price Performance

Shares of EQT stock opened at $48.70 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.08. EQT Co. has a 1-year low of $30.02 and a 1-year high of $56.66. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $49.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.18.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.19. EQT had a net margin of 4.37% and a return on equity of 4.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that EQT Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.1575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 157.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of EQT from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Scotiabank lowered shares of EQT from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of EQT from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of EQT from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of EQT from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $48.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.39.

Insider Activity

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

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.