Sentry Investment Management LLC Trims Holdings in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

Sentry Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) by 14.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,487 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 405 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in EQT were worth $115,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in EQT by 104.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 63,507 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,327,000 after purchasing an additional 32,484 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in shares of EQT by 36.7% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 133,142 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,878,000 after acquiring an additional 35,733 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of EQT by 44.2% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 53,555 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,379,000 after acquiring an additional 16,416 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of EQT by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,133,197 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $41,520,000 after acquiring an additional 28,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of EQT by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 41,508 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,914,000 after acquiring an additional 5,489 shares during the last quarter. 90.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on EQT shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of EQT in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of EQT from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $73.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Mizuho raised shares of EQT from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of EQT from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, EQT currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.39.

EQT Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE EQT opened at $48.70 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $29.09 billion, a PE ratio of 121.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.08. EQT Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.02 and a fifty-two week high of $56.66. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $49.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. EQT had a return on equity of 4.35% and a net margin of 4.37%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that EQT Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.1575 dividend. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. EQT’s dividend payout ratio is presently 157.50%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas F. Karam sold 30,154 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.83, for a total transaction of $1,351,803.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 201,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,038,086.64. This represents a 13.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

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.