EQT Corp Announces Dividend Suspension To Reduce Debts

EQT Corporation’s (NYSE:EQT) board of directors announced the decision to suspend quarterly cash dividend. The suspension will be effective immediately.

The company expects this decision to fetch it with retained cash savings of roughly $30 million per year. Notably, the natural gas production firm has decided to utilize the cash flow to pay down near-term debt. EQT Corp emphasized that a significant portion of free cash flow and the proceeds from asset divestments will be employed for lowering debt load. The measures reflect the company’s long-term target of keeping net debt to adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) ratio less than 2.0.

EQT Corp also revealed plans of revisiting the dividend policy once the balance sheet and leverage metrics are strengthened over time.

Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, EQT Corp is a leading natural gas producer with strong presence in in the Appalachian Basin. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked players in the energy space include Montage Resources Corporation (NYSE:MR) , Antero Resources Corporation (NYSE:AR) and Range Resources Corporation (NYSE:RRC) . While Montage Resources sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Antero Resources and Range Resources carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Montage Resources beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in the last four quarters, with the average surprise being 294.3%.

Antero Resources is likely to see earnings growth of 189% in 2020.

Range Resources’ earnings growth is expected to be 4.1% in the next five years.

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