EQT (NYSE:EQT) Sets New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $52.00 to $53.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. EQT traded as high as $49.20 and last traded at $48.97, with a volume of 7886481 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $48.15.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on EQT. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of EQT in a report on Friday, December 6th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $49.00 target price on shares of EQT in a research report on Monday. Bank of America initiated coverage on EQT in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Stephens boosted their price objective on EQT from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of EQT from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas F. Karam sold 30,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,038,086.64. This trade represents a 13.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EQT

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its stake in shares of EQT by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 14,478 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $668,000 after purchasing an additional 2,817 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in EQT in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,272,000. General Partner Inc. bought a new stake in shares of EQT in the 4th quarter worth approximately $266,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of EQT by 65.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,400 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $387,000 after buying an additional 3,333 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of EQT by 144.6% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,052 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 1,213 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

EQT Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $29.22 billion, a PE ratio of 58.30 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50 day moving average of $44.29 and a 200 day moving average of $38.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.51.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.30 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that EQT Co. will post 1.37 EPS for the current year.

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.