Payden & Rygel Sells 33,550 Shares of EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

Payden & Rygel trimmed its position in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) by 14.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 194,470 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 33,550 shares during the quarter. Payden & Rygel’s holdings in EQT were worth $7,125,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. HM Payson & Co. bought a new position in shares of EQT in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of EQT during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of EQT by 18,080.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 909 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 904 shares during the period. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its holdings in shares of EQT by 936.1% in the 2nd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 1,005 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 908 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in EQT by 149.5% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 998 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 598 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

EQT Trading Up 5.6 %

Shares of EQT opened at $46.53 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.51. EQT Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.02 and a fifty-two week high of $46.86. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $37.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.83. The firm has a market cap of $27.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.39 and a beta of 1.06.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.06. EQT had a net margin of 5.52% and a return on equity of 3.74%. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that EQT Co. will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be given a $0.1575 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. EQT’s payout ratio is currently 75.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of EQT from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $40.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of EQT in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Bank of America initiated coverage on EQT in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of EQT from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of EQT to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, EQT presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.83.

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.