EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.17 Per Share

EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share by the oil and gas producer on Tuesday, December 1st. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 4th. This is a 3.0% increase from EQT’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.1650.

EQT has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.8% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. EQT has a payout ratio of 13.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect EQT to earn $3.49 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.66 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.9%.

EQT Stock Performance

EQT opened at $52.71 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $52.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.29. EQT has a 1 year low of $47.94 and a 1 year high of $68.24. The company has a market capitalization of $32.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.23 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

EQT (NYSE:EQT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.02). EQT had a return on equity of 9.31% and a net margin of 28.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 29.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that EQT will post 3.90 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Toby Rice sold 175,328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.03, for a total transaction of $9,648,299.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,157,865 shares in the company, valued at approximately $118,747,310.95. This represents a 7.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EQT. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of EQT during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Community Bank N.A. raised its stake in shares of EQT by 198.9% during the 2nd quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 523 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of EQT by 76.0% in the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 528 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of EQT by 251.8% in the 2nd quarter. Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC now owns 577 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EQT in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 90.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

EQT Company Profile

EQT Corporation is a natural gas producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company explores for, develops, and produces natural gas, natural gas liquids, and crude oil, with its operations concentrated in the Appalachian Basin, particularly the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.

In addition to its upstream production activities, EQT has interests in the midstream infrastructure used to gather, process, transport, and store natural gas. These assets support the movement of production from well sites to regional and interstate markets.