EQT (NYSE:EQT) Upgraded by Stephens to “Overweight” Rating

Stephens upgraded shares of EQT (NYSE:EQT) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Stephens currently has $59.00 price target on the oil and gas producer’s stock, up from their prior price target of $41.00.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on EQT. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on EQT from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com raised EQT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on EQT from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Scotiabank lowered EQT from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of EQT in a report on Monday, January 6th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, EQT currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.22.

EQT Stock Performance

Shares of EQT opened at $52.55 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $31.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.38, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $50.98 and a 200 day moving average of $43.85. EQT has a 12 month low of $30.02 and a 12 month high of $56.66.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. EQT had a return on equity of 4.35% and a net margin of 4.37%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that EQT will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.1575 dividend. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. EQT’s payout ratio is currently 157.50%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EQT

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in EQT during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Quarry LP boosted its stake in EQT by 184.7% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 891 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 578 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. boosted its stake in EQT by 47.7% during the fourth quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. now owns 960 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in EQT by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 976 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new stake in EQT during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

EQT Company 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.