Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) saw a large decrease in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,240,000 shares, a decrease of 7.8% from the December 15th total of 4,600,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,450,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on EQH shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Equitable from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays increased their target price on Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Equitable from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $54.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.18.

Equitable Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE EQH traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $51.70. 1,567,195 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,062,002. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.17. Equitable has a 1-year low of $31.76 and a 1-year high of $52.04. The firm has a market cap of $16.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -47.43 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.53. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 76.47% and a negative net margin of 2.64%. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Equitable will post 6.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Equitable’s payout ratio is presently -88.07%.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total transaction of $1,549,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 629,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,536,349.35. This represents a 4.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.31, for a total value of $315,368.46. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 98,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,677,776.25. This represents a 6.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 161,698 shares of company stock valued at $7,904,806. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Equitable by 195.6% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Equitable by 61.5% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 646 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Equitable during the third quarter worth about $48,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Equitable by 86.3% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in Equitable by 298.3% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,689 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 1,265 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equitable Company Profile

Equitable Holdings, Inc, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Investment Management and Research, Protection Solutions, Wealth Management, and Legacy.