Traders Buy Large Volume of Equitable Put Options (NYSE:EQH)

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 3,002 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,862% compared to the average daily volume of 153 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on EQH shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Equitable from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total transaction of $1,291,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 121,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,282,137.85. The trade was a 17.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.16, for a total transaction of $1,534,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 753,206 shares in the company, valued at $38,534,018.96. This represents a 3.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 103,332 shares of company stock valued at $5,364,610. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Equitable by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,278,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,003,705,000 after purchasing an additional 535,671 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 19,032,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $897,752,000 after buying an additional 79,999 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable in the fourth quarter valued at $668,250,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,976,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $545,418,000 after buying an additional 338,205 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Equitable by 59.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,817,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $415,899,000 after acquiring an additional 3,303,449 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equitable Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of EQH stock traded up $0.13 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $52.22. 1,560,111 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,546,818. Equitable has a 52-week low of $35.49 and a 52-week high of $56.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 1.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $53.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 0.07 and a quick ratio of 0.12.

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

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.