Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $60.0833.

Several research firms recently commented on EQH. Wolfe Research cut Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Zacks Research raised Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total transaction of $647,689.38. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 74,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,371,882.28. This represents a 16.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.54, for a total value of $1,927,038.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 753,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,570,181.62. This represents a 5.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 128,503 shares of company stock valued at $5,840,116. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in Equitable by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Equitable by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in shares of Equitable by 11.7% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 19,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $708,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 30.2% in the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of Equitable stock opened at $47.69 on Monday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $45.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.93. Equitable has a 1-year low of $35.19 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The company has a market cap of $13.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.79, a PEG ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.10.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Equitable will post 7.11 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -42.25%.

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.