Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Short Interest Update

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,430,000 shares, a growth of 15.4% from the September 15th total of 3,840,000 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,170,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total value of $1,332,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 658,555 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,239,842. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total value of $148,470.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 19,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $819,596.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total value of $1,332,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 658,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,239,842. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 93,500 shares of company stock worth $3,969,870. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,012,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,265,815,000 after purchasing an additional 446,752 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in Equitable by 3.5% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 18,804,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $714,766,000 after buying an additional 637,916 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Equitable by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,083,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,855,000 after acquiring an additional 539,904 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Equitable by 24,432.7% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,168,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,444,000 after acquiring an additional 3,155,487 shares during the period. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new position in Equitable during the 2nd quarter valued at about $110,176,000. 92.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Equitable from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Equitable from $41.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Equitable from $44.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Equitable from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.70.

Equitable Price Performance

NYSE:EQH traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $44.57. 3,143,386 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,510,615. Equitable has a 1-year low of $24.65 and a 1-year high of $44.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.50 billion, a PE ratio of 13.80 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $41.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.38.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.03. Equitable had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 87.49%. The business had revenue of $3.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 47.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Equitable will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. Equitable’s payout ratio is presently 29.72%.

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.