Wedbush Securities Inc. Buys Shares of 4,043 EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT)

Wedbush Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,043 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in EQT. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. raised its position in EQT by 47.7% in the fourth quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. now owns 960 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of EQT in the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,000. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its holdings in shares of EQT by 255.5% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 1,422 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022 shares in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of EQT in the 4th quarter worth approximately $70,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in EQT during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $72,000. 90.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on EQT. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of EQT from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen upgraded EQT from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of EQT in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded EQT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on EQT from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.84.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Sarah Fenton sold 12,438 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.94, for a total transaction of $646,029.72. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 13,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $690,646.18. This trade represents a 48.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

EQT Price Performance

NYSE EQT opened at $51.93 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.15. EQT Corporation has a 52-week low of $30.02 and a 52-week high of $61.02.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 billion. EQT had a net margin of 15.87% and a return on equity of 6.24%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.08) EPS. Equities research analysts predict that EQT Corporation will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 6th will be given a dividend of $0.1575 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 6th. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. EQT’s payout ratio is 34.05%.

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.