Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Price Target Raised to $68.00

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its price objective upped by UBS Group from $63.00 to $68.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 49.12% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on EQH. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Equitable and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays dropped their price target on Equitable from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.00.

Equitable Price Performance

EQH traded down $1.38 on Wednesday, hitting $45.60. 1,513,294 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,902,293. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The firm has a market cap of $12.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.95. Equitable has a one year low of $35.19 and a one year high of $55.28.

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

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In related news, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total value of $404,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 124,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,023,375.92. This trade represents a 7.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 79,403 shares in the company, valued at $3,369,863.32. This represents a 15.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 154,248 shares of company stock valued at $6,608,358. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EQH. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 92.6% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Equitable in the second quarter worth approximately $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new stake in Equitable during the second quarter worth $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in Equitable by 1,126.5% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,332,000 after acquiring an additional 267,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 45.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 626,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,120,000 after purchasing an additional 196,729 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.