Analysts Set Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Price Target at $61.75

Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, ten have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $61.75.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 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 report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group increased their price target on Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wolfe Research downgraded Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $36,570,181.62. This represents a 5.01% 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, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 1,466 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.15, for a total transaction of $74,985.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 26,465 shares in the company, valued at $1,353,684.75. This trade represents a 5.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 114,541 shares of company stock worth $5,357,784. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Equitable in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 64.1% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 888 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Equitable by 124.7% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable during the third quarter worth about $38,000. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $48.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $13.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.40. Equitable has a fifty-two week low of $35.19 and a fifty-two week high of $55.15.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.05. Equitable had a negative net margin of 8.72% and a positive return on equity of 511.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Equitable will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -36.25%.

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.