Covered, compounding slowly. A 1.22% yield on a 15.77% trailing payout is covered with a wide margin: $0.17 a quarter, raised 3% from $0.165 on October 14, 2026 for payment December 1, 2026. Second-quarter 2026 free cash flow was $330 million and net debt fell to $5.5 billion, so the small dividend is a small claim on growing gas cash flow — the yield is thin because the price, not the payout, is high.
Key risk: Natural gas price — EQT is a gas-focused Appalachian producer, so a gas-price fall cuts the cash flow behind both the dividend and the debt paydown.
Changes if: The payout pushes well past 15.77%, free cash flow turns negative, or the run of annual raises stops. A gas-price collapse is the tripwire, not the current payout.
- ✓Payout-coverage check: 15.77% of trailing earnings leaves more than five-sixths of earnings behind the dividend.
- ✓Yield check: 1.22% indicated — $0.17/qtr × 4 at the $55.63 close on Oct. 23, 2026. Real, earned cash dividend, but thin income for a single stock.
- ✓Dividend growth check: Raised again in October 2026, from $0.165 to $0.17 — the fourth year of increases, stepping from $0.1575 in 2024 through $0.165 in 2026.
What this grade doesn't say: It screens the dividend only — covered, real, compounding. It says nothing about valuation or price: a well-covered payer can still be overpriced, and its price can still fall.