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

EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 16,140,000 shares, a decline of 19.8% from the March 15th total of 20,130,000 shares. Currently, 2.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,830,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on EQT shares. Scotiabank lowered shares of EQT from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on EQT from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Citigroup upped their price target on EQT from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. TD Cowen upgraded EQT from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on EQT from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, EQT currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.56.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EQT

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQT. ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in EQT during the first quarter worth about $153,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of EQT by 16.1% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,806 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in EQT during the first quarter worth $554,000. Friedenthal Financial grew its position in shares of EQT by 8,309.7% in the 1st quarter. Friedenthal Financial now owns 17,324 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 17,118 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in shares of EQT by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 69,937 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910 shares during the last quarter. 90.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

EQT Stock Down 6.6 %

NYSE EQT traded down $3.38 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $47.60. 8,261,883 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,786,125. The company has a market capitalization of $28.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 119.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.35. EQT has a one year low of $30.02 and a one year high of $56.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.70. The company’s 50-day moving average is $50.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.82.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. EQT had a return on equity of 4.35% and a net margin of 4.37%. On average, analysts forecast that EQT will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a $0.1575 dividend. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 157.50%.

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.