New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $30.68 Million Stock Position in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 793,504 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 49,174 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in EQT were worth $30,677,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in EQT by 102.6% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 5,797 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 2,935 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in EQT by 145.4% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,936 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 1,147 shares during the period. Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of EQT by 47.6% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 63,210 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,565,000 after purchasing an additional 20,387 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of EQT by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 152,797 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $6,201,000 after purchasing an additional 2,482 shares during the period. Finally, Connective Portfolio Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EQT in the 3rd quarter valued at about $812,000. 90.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

EQT Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQT opened at $40.41 on Friday. EQT Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.84 and a fifty-two week high of $45.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market cap of $17.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.28 and a beta of 1.12.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.17. EQT had a net margin of 10.96% and a return on equity of 4.70%. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.70 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 28.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that EQT Co. will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be given a dividend of $0.1575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $0.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. EQT’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stephens upped their target price on EQT from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on EQT from $48.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of EQT in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. StockNews.com upgraded EQT to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded EQT from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $40.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, EQT currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.06.

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.