Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $55.67 and last traded at $55.2320, with a volume of 73,593 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $54.59.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on EQH shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on Equitable from $52.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $66.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Equitable in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings raised Equitable from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equitable has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.18.

Equitable Trading Down 1.4%

The stock has a market capitalization of $14.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $52.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.84 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. Equitable’s quarterly revenue was down 29.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bertram Scott sold 2,780 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.35, for a total value of $151,093.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 23,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,287,279.75. This trade represents a 10.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Craig MacKay sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.27, for a total value of $108,540.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 16,999 shares in the company, valued at $922,535.73. This trade represents a 10.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,816 shares of company stock worth $1,731,591. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equitable in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $479,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in Equitable by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 5,618,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,086,000 after buying an additional 57,189 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Equitable during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in Equitable during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,073,000. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al raised its stake in Equitable by 20.4% during the third quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 71,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,666,000 after buying an additional 12,100 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equitable Company Profile

Equitable Holdings, Inc (NYSE: EQH) is a financial services company that provides retirement, protection and wealth management solutions to individuals, families and institutions. Its businesses offer life insurance, annuities, investment products, retirement planning and financial advice.

Through Equitable, the company provides life insurance and retirement products, while Equitable Advisors offers financial planning, investment advisory and insurance services through a network of financial professionals.