Insider Selling: Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) COO Sells $364,296.90 in Stock

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.65, for a total value of $364,296.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 92,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,039,221.85. The trade was a 6.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Equitable Price Performance

NYSE EQH opened at $51.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $16.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -47.43 and a beta of 1.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $47.86 and a 200 day moving average of $44.19. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $31.76 and a one year high of $52.04.

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

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -88.07%.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new position in Equitable in the second quarter worth about $110,176,000. Samlyn Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $63,334,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 700.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,563,172 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,126,000 after buying an additional 1,367,837 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 1,092.4% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 875,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,302,000 after buying an additional 802,160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Equitable by 15.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,083,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,855,000 after buying an additional 539,904 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EQH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Equitable from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $54.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Equitable has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.18.

About Equitable

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.