Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $48.70.

Several research firms have weighed in on EQH. Truist Financial upped their target price on Equitable from $44.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Equitable from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Equitable from $41.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Equitable from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 $29,239,842. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total transaction of $148,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 19,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $819,596.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 93,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,969,870. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EQH. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Equitable by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,012,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,265,815,000 after acquiring an additional 446,752 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in Equitable by 3.5% in 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 grew its position in shares of Equitable by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,083,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,855,000 after buying an additional 539,904 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 24,432.7% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,168,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,444,000 after acquiring an additional 3,155,487 shares during the period. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in Equitable in the second quarter worth $110,176,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $45.85 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.20 and a beta of 1.41. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $41.79 and its 200 day moving average is $40.58. Equitable has a 52 week low of $24.65 and a 52 week high of $46.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.06, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12.

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

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. Equitable’s payout ratio is 29.72%.

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.