The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Acquires 391,902 Shares of EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in EQT Co. (NYSE:EQT) by 22.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,100,353 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 391,902 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.35% of EQT worth $76,957,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Modera Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in EQT in the third quarter valued at $562,494,000. Canoe Financial LP acquired a new position in EQT during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $89,907,000. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new position in EQT in the second quarter worth approximately $69,452,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in EQT by 28.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,013,058 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $183,678,000 after acquiring an additional 1,108,134 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of EQT by 33.7% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,834,505 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $142,178,000 after acquiring an additional 966,475 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.81% of the company’s stock.

EQT Stock Performance

NYSE:EQT opened at $45.29 on Thursday. EQT Co. has a 1 year low of $30.02 and a 1 year high of $48.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.11. The company has a market capitalization of $27.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.92 and a beta of 1.06.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.35 billion. EQT had a return on equity of 3.74% and a net margin of 5.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.30 EPS. On average, analysts expect that EQT Co. will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current year.

EQT Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be issued a $0.1575 dividend. This represents a $0.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. EQT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQT has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup raised shares of EQT from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $37.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on EQT from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on EQT from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Mizuho increased their price target on EQT from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of EQT from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.67.

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.