EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 20,480,000 shares, an increase of 11.7% from the August 15th total of 18,330,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,200,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on EQT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on EQT from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of EQT from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Scotiabank increased their target price on EQT from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of EQT in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $37.00 price target on shares of EQT in a report on Friday, August 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.71.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EQT

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in EQT by 3.8% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,153 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of EQT by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 72,374 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,683,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in EQT by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 6,861 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp lifted 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 valued at $541,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in EQT by 1.4% during the first quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,361 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,125,000 after buying an additional 428 shares during the period. 90.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

EQT Trading Down 0.8 %

EQT opened at $33.27 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.50. EQT has a 1-year low of $30.02 and a 1-year high of $45.23. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.20) by $0.12. EQT had a return on equity of 4.52% and a net margin of 12.45%. The company had revenue of $952.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.17) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that EQT will post 1.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.1575 per share. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.65%.

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.