Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,240,000 shares, a drop of 7.8% from the December 15th total of 4,600,000 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,450,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Equitable Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE EQH traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $51.70. The stock had a trading volume of 1,567,195 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,062,002. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12. Equitable has a 1 year low of $31.76 and a 1 year high of $52.04. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $47.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.22. The firm has a market cap of $16.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -47.43 and a beta of 1.39.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Equitable will post 6.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Equitable’s payout ratio is -88.07%.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 1,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.68, for a total value of $79,356.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $825,162.36. This trade represents a 8.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.65, for a total transaction of $364,296.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 92,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,039,221.85. This trade represents a 6.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 161,698 shares of company stock worth $7,904,806 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EQH. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Equitable by 195.6% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its position in Equitable by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Equitable during the 3rd quarter valued at $48,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Equitable by 86.3% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 718 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Equitable by 298.3% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,265 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $47.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Equitable from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. 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 research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Equitable from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $54.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.18.

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.