UBS Group Cuts Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Price Target to $67.00

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its price target decreased by UBS Group from $77.00 to $67.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on EQH. Raymond James Financial set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Equitable in a report on Monday, January 5th. 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research report on Monday, December 29th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Equitable in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $62.77.

Equitable Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of EQH opened at $48.57 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.60 and a beta of 1.13. Equitable has a one year low of $41.39 and a one year high of $56.61. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.87, a current ratio of 0.13 and a quick ratio of 0.13.

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

Equitable Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 4,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.27, for a total transaction of $203,261.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $738,593.75. The trade was a 21.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.87, for a total value of $1,436,100.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 173,770 shares of company stock valued at $8,120,014 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Community Trust & Investment Co. raised its holdings in Equitable by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 301,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,361,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Equitable by 25,519.8% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 893,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,593,000 after acquiring an additional 890,387 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Equitable by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 13,858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,894 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 66,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,162,000 after acquiring an additional 1,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Board of the Pension Protection Fund raised its position in shares of Equitable by 45.2% during the fourth quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund now owns 34,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,653,000 after purchasing an additional 10,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

About Equitable

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.