Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on EQT (NYSE:EQT)

EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 15,182 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 120% compared to the typical volume of 6,901 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EQT. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on EQT from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Mizuho increased their target price on EQT from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded EQT from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $27.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on EQT in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $51.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on EQT from $37.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP William E. Jordan sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.72, for a total value of $1,425,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 456,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,602,402.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other EQT news, EVP William E. Jordan sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.72, for a total value of $1,425,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 456,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,602,402.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Lesley Evancho sold 46,884 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total value of $1,935,840.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 160,884 shares in the company, valued at $6,642,900.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EQT

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in EQT by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,153 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $302,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its position in EQT by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,471 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $559,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its position in EQT by 0.5% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 72,374 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,683,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its position in EQT by 5.1% in the first quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 6,861 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $254,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hancock Whitney Corp grew its position in EQT by 3.0% in the first quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 14,603 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $541,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

EQT Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EQT traded up $0.59 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $30.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,189,820 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,162,318. EQT has a 12-month low of $30.02 and a 12-month high of $45.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $37.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.48 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.08) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.20) by $0.12. The company had revenue of $952.51 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.06 billion. EQT had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 4.52%. EQT’s revenue was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.17) EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that EQT will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.1575 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. EQT’s payout ratio is 45.65%.

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.