EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) Short Interest Update

EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 20,260,000 shares, a growth of 21.2% from the February 13th total of 16,710,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 8,200,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days. Currently, 3.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of EQT

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EQT. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in EQT by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,042 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in EQT by 26.6% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 976 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in EQT by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 4,731 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in EQT by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 3,265 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in EQT by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,719 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. 90.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

EQT Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQT opened at $53.54 on Thursday. EQT has a twelve month low of $30.02 and a twelve month high of $56.66. The company has a market cap of $31.99 billion, a PE ratio of 133.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $51.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

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

EQT Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.1575 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 157.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded EQT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on EQT from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Scotiabank downgraded EQT from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $55.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on EQT from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on EQT from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.50.

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.