CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC Sells 284,742 Shares of EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC trimmed its stake in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) by 25.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 856,465 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 284,742 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC owned 0.14% of EQT worth $41,967,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EQT. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of EQT by 71.4% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 30,540 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,119,000 after purchasing an additional 12,723 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in EQT by 51.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 36,754 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,347,000 after acquiring an additional 12,480 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. acquired a new position in EQT during the 3rd quarter worth $209,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in EQT by 2.5% during the third 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 period. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC grew its position in shares of EQT by 69.5% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 13,640 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $500,000 after purchasing an additional 5,593 shares during the last quarter. 90.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on EQT from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective on shares of EQT in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of EQT from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $67.00 target price (up from $63.00) on shares of EQT in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of EQT from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. One 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.11.

EQT Price Performance

Shares of EQT stock opened at $53.07 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.02. EQT Co. has a one year low of $30.02 and a one year high of $56.66. The firm has a market cap of $31.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 132.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.51.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. EQT had a net margin of 4.37% and a return on equity of 4.35%. On average, analysts expect that EQT Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.1575 dividend. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 157.50%.

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.