SCP Investment LP Invests $681,000 in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

SCP Investment LP acquired a new position in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 17,800 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $681,000. EQT makes up about 0.6% of SCP Investment LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of EQT by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,899,640 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,822,027,000 after acquiring an additional 3,539,661 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in EQT by 61.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,687,594 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $798,923,000 after purchasing an additional 7,526,875 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of EQT by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,865,008 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $149,421,000 after buying an additional 519,294 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of EQT by 8.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,657,338 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $148,415,000 after buying an additional 300,326 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of EQT by 16.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,847,603 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $74,979,000 after buying an additional 258,848 shares in the last quarter. 90.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

EQT Price Performance

Shares of EQT traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $40.02. 3,929,622 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,527,438. The stock has a market cap of $17.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.00 and a beta of 1.09. EQT Co. has a 1-year low of $31.58 and a 1-year high of $45.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $37.11 and a 200-day moving average of $37.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.17. EQT had a return on equity of 4.57% and a net margin of 10.96%. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.70 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 28.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that EQT Co. will post 1.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be given a $0.1575 dividend. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on EQT shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of EQT from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $48.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on EQT from $37.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 target price (down from $39.00) on shares of EQT in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Scotiabank raised their price target on EQT from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on shares of EQT from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.69.

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.