Foster & Motley Inc. Takes Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Foster & Motley Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 133,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,850,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Equitable by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $143,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased 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 acquiring an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG increased its position in shares of Equitable by 1.5% during the first quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 19,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $708,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 30.2% in the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of EQH stock opened at $50.93 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.39, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.09. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $35.19 and a one year high of $55.15. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 0.15.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.05. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 511.35% and a negative net margin of 8.72%.The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. Equitable’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is currently -36.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.54, for a total transaction of $1,927,038.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 753,403 shares in the company, valued at $36,570,181.62. The trade was a 5.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 947 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.88, for a total transaction of $50,077.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,419 shares in the company, valued at $445,196.72. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 114,541 shares of company stock worth $5,357,784. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho set a $68.00 price target on Equitable in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research raised Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Barclays upped their target price on Equitable from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Equitable from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.17.

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.