Farmers Trust Co. Lowers Holdings in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

Farmers Trust Co. cut its stake in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 68,112 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,939 shares during the period. Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings in EQT were worth $3,141,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EQT. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of EQT by 38.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 74,153,050 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,716,968,000 after buying an additional 20,700,921 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in EQT by 24.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,095,597 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,359,183,000 after acquiring an additional 7,290,822 shares during the period. Modera Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of EQT in the 3rd quarter worth about $562,494,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of EQT by 34.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,997,574 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $511,159,000 after purchasing an additional 3,582,418 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in EQT by 2.9% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 9,084,686 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $335,952,000 after buying an additional 253,186 shares in the last quarter. 90.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

EQT Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQT traded up $0.46 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $48.61. 4,947,384 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,962,468. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market cap of $29.00 billion, a PE ratio of 57.87 and a beta of 1.12. EQT Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.02 and a fifty-two week high of $49.20.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.06. EQT had a return on equity of 3.74% and a net margin of 5.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. EQT’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that EQT Co. will post 1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were paid a dividend of $0.1575 per share. This represents a $0.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. EQT’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EQT. Mizuho upgraded EQT from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $48.00 to $57.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on EQT from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of EQT from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of EQT to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, December 30th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of EQT from $32.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, EQT presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas F. Karam sold 30,154 shares of EQT stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.83, for a total value of $1,351,803.82. Following the transaction, the director now owns 201,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,038,086.64. This trade represents a 13.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.