AXQ Capital LP Makes New $361,000 Investment in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 7,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $361,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of EQH. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Equitable by 195.6% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Equitable by 33.2% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in shares of Equitable by 298.3% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 1,265 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Equitable by 31.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Equitable by 82.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 817 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.65, for a total value of $364,296.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 92,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,039,221.85. This trade represents a 6.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 5,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.12, for a total transaction of $255,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 139,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,109,411.76. This trade represents a 3.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 103,332 shares of company stock valued at $5,364,610. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EQH. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Equitable from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $47.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equitable has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.75.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of Equitable stock opened at $52.49 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $16.16 billion, a PE ratio of 13.74 and a beta of 1.39. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.49 and a 12-month high of $56.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.99.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.08). Equitable had a return on equity of 85.70% and a net margin of 10.51%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is 25.13%.

About Equitable

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.