State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System Boosts Stock Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 395,675 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,980 shares during the quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System owned about 0.13% of Equitable worth $22,197,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EQH. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Equitable by 310.2% during the 1st quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 17,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $904,000 after purchasing an additional 13,120 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Equitable by 18.3% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,985,846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,168,000 after acquiring an additional 615,314 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. raised its stake in Equitable by 53.9% in the 2nd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 17,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $971,000 after acquiring an additional 6,065 shares during the last quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Equitable during the 2nd quarter valued at about $434,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 3,555.3% in the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 21,932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 21,332 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Trading Down 0.3%

EQH stock opened at $46.69 on Monday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $41.39 and a 52-week high of $56.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.87. The firm has a market cap of $13.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.92 and a beta of 1.12. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.40.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 107.71% and a negative net margin of 5.80%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 52.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 24th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 24th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -39.13%.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In related news, CFO Robin M. Raju sold 36,888 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total value of $1,991,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 140,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,573,932. The trade was a 20.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.14, for a total transaction of $1,712,658.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 676,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,185,935.60. This represents a 5.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 176,358 shares of company stock valued at $8,760,599. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Equitable from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Equitable in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Equitable to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.18.

Equitable 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.