EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) Shares Purchased by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) by 64.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,304,681 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 907,130 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in EQT were worth $123,139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EQT. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in EQT by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 6,467 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 762 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in EQT during the 4th quarter worth $244,000. Nkcfo LLC purchased a new position in EQT during the 4th quarter worth $738,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its position in EQT by 31.9% during the 4th quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 67,004 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,090,000 after purchasing an additional 16,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its position in EQT by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 870,013 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $40,116,000 after purchasing an additional 113,600 shares during the last quarter. 90.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

EQT Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NYSE EQT opened at $53.68 on Wednesday. EQT Co. has a 12-month low of $30.02 and a 12-month high of $57.37. The company has a market capitalization of $32.13 billion, a PE ratio of 134.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.65. 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’s 50-day moving average is $52.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.43.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oil and gas producer reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. EQT had a net margin of 4.37% and a return on equity of 4.35%. Equities analysts anticipate that EQT Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were given a $0.1575 dividend. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 7th. EQT’s dividend payout ratio is presently 110.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on EQT shares. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $62.00 price objective (up from $57.00) on shares of EQT in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Stephens lowered their target price on shares of EQT from $59.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. TD Cowen raised shares of EQT from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of EQT from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of EQT from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirteen 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 target price of $57.11.

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.