Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.10.

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Equitable from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Equitable from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Truist Financial raised their target price on Equitable from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Equitable from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Equitable from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other news, insider Seth P. Bernstein sold 152,473 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.06, for a total transaction of $5,803,122.38. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 88,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,374,399.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total transaction of $1,087,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 685,025 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,825,306. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Seth P. Bernstein sold 152,473 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.06, for a total value of $5,803,122.38. Following the sale, the insider now owns 88,660 shares in the company, valued at $3,374,399.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 222,442 shares of company stock worth $8,381,399. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EQH. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Equitable in the 4th quarter worth about $606,630,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in Equitable by 1,161.7% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,849,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,692,000 after buying an additional 7,227,568 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Equitable by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 26,902,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $763,764,000 after buying an additional 2,450,484 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Equitable by 1,105.3% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,242,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,390,000 after buying an additional 1,139,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Equitable by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,958,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,815,000 after buying an additional 781,426 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equitable Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of EQH opened at $39.68 on Wednesday. Equitable has a 12 month low of $24.65 and a 12 month high of $41.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $39.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.77. The firm has a market cap of $12.91 billion, a PE ratio of 12.28 and a beta of 1.41.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Equitable will post 6.12 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.72%.

Equitable Company Profile

Equitable Holdings, Inc, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Investment Management and Research, Protection Solutions, Wealth Management, and Legacy.