Essex Financial Services Inc. Trims Stake in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

Essex Financial Services Inc. lowered its holdings in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) by 14.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,118 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,185 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in EQT were worth $328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HM Payson & Co. purchased a new stake in EQT in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in EQT in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Quarry LP raised its position in EQT by 184.7% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 891 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new stake in EQT in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Financial Avengers Inc. raised its position in EQT by 100.8% in the third quarter. Financial Avengers Inc. now owns 1,004 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at EQT

In other news, Director Thomas F. Karam sold 30,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.83, for a total value of $1,351,803.82. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 201,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,038,086.64. The trade was a 13.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

EQT Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:EQT opened at $52.90 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.81. The stock has a market cap of $31.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.08. EQT Co. has a 1 year low of $30.02 and a 1 year high of $54.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.51.

EQT Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.1575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. EQT’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on EQT. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on EQT from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on EQT from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Scotiabank cut EQT from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on EQT from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on EQT from $41.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.89.

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.