EQT (NYSE:EQT) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.19 EPS

EQT (NYSE:EQT) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.19, Zacks reports. EQT had a net margin of 5.52% and a return on equity of 3.74%.

EQT Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of EQT traded up $0.32 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $53.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,204,055 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,036,659. The stock has a market cap of $32.07 billion, a PE ratio of 63.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. EQT has a 52 week low of $30.02 and a 52 week high of $54.85. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $49.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.26.

EQT Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.1575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. EQT’s payout ratio is 75.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on EQT. Scotiabank downgraded shares of EQT from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of EQT from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of EQT from $44.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of EQT from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on shares of EQT from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.89.

Insider Transactions at EQT

In other EQT news, Director Thomas F. Karam sold 30,154 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 201,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,038,086.64. This trade represents a 13.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

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.