As reported earlier, RBC Capital analyst Scott Hanold downgraded EQT Corp to Sector Perform with an unchanged price target of $27. The analyst cites the "relative valuation and uncertainty on recent investor activism" in his rating change, saying that while the stock price has bridged some of the valuation gap on activist efforts by Rice Energy management team, the outcome of those efforts remains "cloudy" in the near term. Longer term, Hanold contends that EQT is "well positioned with a large asset base focused in the Appalachian Basin" and also some offering "some of the most economic natural gas assets in North America".