Baird Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stake in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

Baird Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) by 69.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 18,416 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 40,903 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in EQT were worth $849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EQT. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of EQT by 46.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,143,774 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $606,059,000 after purchasing an additional 4,162,065 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of EQT by 386.9% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,347,660 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $205,830,000 after purchasing an additional 3,454,741 shares in the last quarter. Slate Path Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of EQT during the fourth quarter worth about $123,575,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of EQT during the fourth quarter worth about $113,924,000. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of EQT by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,855,244 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $638,867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,433,632 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

EQT Stock Performance

NYSE:EQT opened at $56.18 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 140.45, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s 50-day moving average is $51.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.49. EQT Co. has a 1-year low of $30.02 and a 1-year high of $56.67.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.20. EQT had a net margin of 4.37% and a return on equity of 4.35%. The firm had revenue of $2.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Analysts forecast that EQT Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.1575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $0.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.12%. EQT’s dividend payout ratio is currently 110.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQT has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “reduce” rating on shares of EQT in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Scotiabank lowered shares of EQT from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of EQT from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. UBS Group upgraded shares of EQT from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of EQT from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.67.

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.