Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Shares Sold by London Co. of Virginia

London Co. of Virginia lowered its holdings in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 21.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 970,930 shares of the company’s stock after selling 264,313 shares during the quarter. London Co. of Virginia’s holdings in Equitable were worth $46,265,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Equitable during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Equitable by 124.7% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Equitable during the third quarter worth about $38,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCentric Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Equitable during the fourth quarter worth about $73,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In related news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.44, for a total value of $609,353.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 79,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,369,863.32. The trade was a 15.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.83, for a total transaction of $259,346.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 9,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $391,779.78. The trade was a 39.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 162,861 shares of company stock valued at $6,672,783 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Evercore set a $63.00 price target on shares of Equitable and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.64.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $45.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $12.75 billion, a PE ratio of -15.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.10. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.19 and a 12 month high of $56.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.16.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. Equitable’s revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was 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 yield of 2.6%. Equitable’s payout ratio is presently -42.25%.

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.