Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Acquires Shares of 361,690 Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 361,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,871,000. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. owned approximately 0.13% of Equitable at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in Equitable by 9.1% in the 4th 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 increased its holdings in Equitable by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in 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 period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG raised its position in 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 period. Finally, CX Institutional raised its position in Equitable by 30.2% during the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equitable Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of EQH stock opened at $49.99 on Thursday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.19 and a fifty-two week high of $55.15. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $48.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.10, a PEG ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.09.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.84 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 8.72% and a positive return on equity of 511.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on EQH shares. Mizuho set a $68.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Equitable from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $36,570,181.62. This represents a 5.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $386,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 34,357 shares in the company, valued at $1,770,759.78. This trade represents a 17.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 114,541 shares of company stock worth $5,357,784 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.