Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,429,491 shares of the company’s stock after selling 99,419 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Equitable were worth $68,115,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Equitable in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Covestor Ltd lifted 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. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable during the third quarter worth about $38,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 92.6% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable during the fourth quarter worth about $81,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price target on shares of Equitable and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equitable currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.18.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $310,104.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $658,694.88. This represents a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total transaction of $1,652,711.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 789,183 shares in the company, valued at $32,853,688.29. The trade was a 4.79% 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 154,191 shares of company stock valued at $6,311,969 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Equitable Stock Up 0.7%

EQH stock opened at $41.35 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $40.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.19 and a fifty-two week high of $56.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.56, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.13.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Equitable’s payout ratio is currently -42.25%.

Equitable announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 11th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.