Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Invests $379,000 in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 8,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $379,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Equitable by 195.6% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Equitable by 61.5% in 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 last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Equitable by 33.2% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 799 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Equitable by 298.3% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,689 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 1,265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Equitable by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.17.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $50.41 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.38 and a 12-month high of $56.00. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $52.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.26. The firm has a market cap of $15.52 billion, a PE ratio of 13.20 and a beta of 1.39.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.08). Equitable had a return on equity of 85.70% and a net margin of 10.51%. Equities research analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Equitable’s payout ratio is presently 25.13%.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.31, for a total transaction of $315,368.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 98,875 shares in the company, valued at $4,677,776.25. This represents a 6.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.31, for a total value of $1,419,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 639,939 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,275,514.09. This represents a 4.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 131,698 shares of company stock valued at $6,534,234. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.