Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 103,833 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 5.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,955,557 shares of the company’s stock after selling 103,833 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Equitable were worth $72,572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Equitable by 92.6% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable during the second quarter worth about $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable during the second quarter worth about $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 1,126.5% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,332,000 after purchasing an additional 267,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 45.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 626,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,120,000 after purchasing an additional 196,729 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQH has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings raised Equitable from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Equitable has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.08.

Equitable Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of Equitable stock opened at $49.00 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.91. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.19 and a 52-week high of $55.24. The firm has a market cap of $13.38 billion, a PE ratio of -17.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.10. 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 (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.35 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were given a $0.30 dividend. This is a boost from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Equitable’s payout ratio is presently -42.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $391,779.78. This represents a 39.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total transaction of $647,689.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 74,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,371,882.28. This trade represents a 16.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 128,503 shares of company stock valued at $5,565,789 over the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.