Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 173,596 Shares of EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) by 121.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 316,945 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 173,596 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in EQT were worth $11,600,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EQT. HM Payson & Co. bought a new position in EQT in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in EQT in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in EQT in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in EQT by 18,080.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 909 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its position in EQT by 184.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 891 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other EQT news, Director Thomas F. Karam sold 30,154 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.83, for a total value of $1,351,803.82. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 201,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,038,086.64. This trade represents a 13.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on EQT from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of EQT from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of EQT in a research note on Friday, December 6th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial boosted their price target on EQT from $32.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of EQT in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.61.

EQT Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EQT opened at $42.99 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $41.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.52. EQT Co. has a 52-week low of $30.02 and a 52-week high of $48.02. The company has a market cap of $25.65 billion, a PE ratio of 51.18 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.35 billion. EQT had a net margin of 5.52% and a return on equity of 3.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that EQT Co. will post 1.37 EPS for the current year.

EQT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a $0.1575 dividend. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. EQT’s dividend payout ratio is 75.00%.

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.