Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Price Target Raised to $44.00 at Truist Financial

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its price objective increased by Truist Financial from $40.00 to $44.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Equitable from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Equitable from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on Equitable from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Equitable from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $40.10.

Equitable Price Performance

EQH stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Thursday, hitting $38.54. The stock had a trading volume of 2,657,433 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,581,093. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.93 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $36.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.00. Equitable has a twelve month low of $21.89 and a twelve month high of $39.11.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.59 billion. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Equitable will post 6.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.02, for a total transaction of $170,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 29,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,012,367.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.02, for a total transaction of $170,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 29,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,012,367.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Seth P. Bernstein sold 152,473 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.06, for a total value of $5,803,122.38. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 88,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,374,399.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 334,380 shares of company stock valued at $12,198,971. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EQH. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its holdings in Equitable by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 85,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,416,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Equitable by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 12,435 shares of the company’s stock valued at $353,000 after acquiring an additional 1,916 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in Equitable by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 52,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,484,000 after acquiring an additional 1,207 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH boosted its holdings in Equitable by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 1,452,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,244,000 after acquiring an additional 115,004 shares during the period. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 37,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,056,000 after buying an additional 1,588 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.