Analysts Set Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Target Price at $63.36

Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) have earned an average rating of “Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $62.7692.

A number of research firms have commented on EQH. Raymond James Financial set a $60.00 price target on Equitable in a research report on Monday, January 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Equitable from $77.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Equitable from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Equitable from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $64.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $67.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $48.57 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.87, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a current ratio of 0.13. Equitable has a 52 week low of $41.39 and a 52 week high of $56.61. The firm has a market cap of $13.92 billion, a PE ratio of -17.60 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $46.80 and its 200-day moving average is $50.27.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 5.80% and a positive return on equity of 107.71%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 52.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.58 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Equitable will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 24th were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -39.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,790 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.28, for a total value of $293,871.20. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 68,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,956,370.24. The trade was a 9.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.87, for a total transaction of $1,436,100.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 119,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,742,389.46. This trade represents a 20.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 173,770 shares of company stock valued at $8,120,014 over the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EQH. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Equitable in the second quarter valued at $703,060,000. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 49.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $559,232,000 after buying an additional 3,645,301 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Equitable in the 3rd quarter valued at about $101,547,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in Equitable by 553.0% in the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,166,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,553,000 after buying an additional 1,834,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Equitable by 26.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,428,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $415,786,000 after buying an additional 1,551,551 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Equitable Company Profile

Equitable Holdings, Inc (NYSE: EQH) is a leading provider of life insurance, annuities and retirement plan services in the United States. Through its insurance subsidiary, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, the firm offers a broad range of permanent and term life insurance products designed to help individuals and families manage risk and build wealth. In addition, Equitable provides fixed, variable and indexed annuity solutions to support income planning in retirement, as well as a suite of group retirement and pension plan services for employers and plan sponsors.

The company also maintains an asset management arm that delivers investment strategies across equities, fixed income and alternative asset classes for both retail and institutional clients.