Hsbc Holdings PLC Makes New Investment in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 465,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,377,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of Equitable by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Equitable by 9.1% in 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 during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in Equitable by 11.7% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG grew its holdings 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 valued at $708,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 30.2% during the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total value of $647,689.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 74,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,371,882.28. This represents a 16.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 753,403 shares in the company, valued at $36,570,181.62. This trade represents a 5.01% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 114,541 shares of company stock worth $5,357,784 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on EQH shares. Barclays raised their price target on Equitable from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Equitable from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $66.00 price target on shares of Equitable in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.75.

Equitable Stock Performance

EQH opened at $50.01 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $48.21 and its 200-day moving average is $43.54. The stock has a market cap of $13.65 billion, a PE ratio of -15.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.19 and a twelve month high of $55.15.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 511.35% and a negative net margin of 8.72%.The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

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