Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Stock

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its price objective lifted by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $53.00 to $61.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target points to a potential upside of 13.08% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on EQH. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays increased their price objective 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 raised shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Equitable in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.58.

Equitable Trading Down 3.1 %

NYSE EQH opened at $53.95 on Wednesday. Equitable has a one year low of $32.96 and a one year high of $56.00. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $50.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.12 and a beta of 1.39.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.08). Equitable had a net margin of 10.51% and a return on equity of 85.70%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Equitable will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equitable news, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.84, for a total value of $1,146,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 141,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,492,273.36. The trade was a 15.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total value of $369,163.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 104,298 shares in the company, valued at $5,776,023.24. The trade was a 6.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 131,698 shares of company stock valued at $6,534,234 over the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in Equitable in the third quarter valued at $587,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Equitable by 20.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 908,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,191,000 after buying an additional 153,457 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Equitable in the fourth quarter valued at $295,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Equitable by 7.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,117,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,001,000 after buying an additional 148,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in Equitable by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 752,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,476,000 after buying an additional 78,725 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.