EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) Short Interest Down 11.6% in August

EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) saw a significant decrease in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 18,330,000 shares, a decrease of 11.6% from the July 31st total of 20,740,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 8,420,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in EQT in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in EQT during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in EQT by 149.5% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 998 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its position in EQT by 936.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 1,005 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 908 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of EQT in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

EQT Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQT remained flat at $33.51 during trading on Friday. 4,609,171 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,014,583. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a 50-day moving average of $34.48 and a 200 day moving average of $36.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.80 billion, a PE ratio of 24.28 and a beta of 1.12. EQT has a twelve month low of $30.02 and a twelve month high of $45.23.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.20) by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $952.51 million during 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 quarterly revenue was down 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.17) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that EQT will post 1.43 EPS for the current year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th will be given a $0.1575 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.65%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on EQT shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of EQT from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of EQT in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of EQT from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of EQT from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of EQT from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.35.

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.