Natixis Advisors LLC Has $2.87 Million Stock Holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Natixis Advisors LLC lessened its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 39.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 60,278 shares of the company’s stock after selling 38,780 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Equitable were worth $2,872,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Korea Investment CORP raised its position in Equitable by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 299,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,203,000 after buying an additional 59,700 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in Equitable by 43.1% in the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 149,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,580,000 after buying an additional 44,978 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Equitable by 23.8% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 386,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,618,000 after buying an additional 74,312 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Equitable by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 311,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,965,000 after buying an additional 36,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prana Capital Management LP raised its position in Equitable by 80.7% in the 3rd quarter. Prana Capital Management LP now owns 209,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,652,000 after buying an additional 93,660 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Up 1.4%

NYSE:EQH opened at $41.92 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.10. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.19 and a twelve month high of $56.61. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $40.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.The company had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is presently -42.25%.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.44, for a total transaction of $609,353.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 79,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,369,863.32. The trade was a 15.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,470 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total value of $101,467.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 27,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,147,405.48. This represents a 8.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 156,661 shares of company stock worth $6,413,437 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research report on Friday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen raised Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price target on Equitable and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equitable presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.18.

Equitable 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.