Equitable (NYSE:EQH) COO Sells 6,790 Shares

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) COO Jeffrey Hurd sold 6,790 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.65, for a total value of $323,543.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 55,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,621,845.95. This trade represents a 10.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Equitable Stock Down 1.1%

NYSE EQH traded down $0.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $46.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,571,716 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,396,885. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $41.39 and a fifty-two week high of $56.61. The company has a market cap of $13.41 billion, a PE ratio of -16.96 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.87, a current ratio of 0.13 and a quick ratio of 0.13. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.08.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 5.80% and a positive return on equity of 107.71%. The business’s revenue was down 52.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 24th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 24th. Equitable’s payout ratio is presently -39.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 16th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Equitable in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Equitable in a report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Equitable from $67.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Equitable from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $60.00 in a report on Monday, January 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $62.54.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EQH. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Equitable by 92.6% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. acquired a new position in shares of Equitable in the second quarter worth about $634,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,455,000. Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Equitable by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 721,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,495,000 after acquiring an additional 15,353 shares during the period. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 89,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,014,000 after purchasing an additional 2,426 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Company Profile

Equitable Holdings, Inc (NYSE: EQH) is a leading provider of life insurance, annuities and retirement plan services in the United States. Through its insurance subsidiary, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, the firm offers a broad range of permanent and term life insurance products designed to help individuals and families manage risk and build wealth. In addition, Equitable provides fixed, variable and indexed annuity solutions to support income planning in retirement, as well as a suite of group retirement and pension plan services for employers and plan sponsors.

The company also maintains an asset management arm that delivers investment strategies across equities, fixed income and alternative asset classes for both retail and institutional clients.