Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,131,033 shares of the company’s stock after selling 180,219 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Equitable were worth $108,214,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 18.3% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,985,846 shares of the company’s stock worth $223,168,000 after purchasing an additional 615,314 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its stake in Equitable by 53.9% in the 2nd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 17,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $971,000 after buying an additional 6,065 shares during the period. Algebris UK Ltd. raised its position in Equitable by 28.6% during the 3rd quarter. Algebris UK Ltd. now owns 712,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,151,000 after buying an additional 158,488 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable in the 2nd quarter worth $817,000. Finally, Applied Finance Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable in the second quarter valued at about $434,000. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQH has been the subject of several analyst reports. Zacks Research cut shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Equitable from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 price target on Equitable in a report on Monday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Equitable from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $64.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.54.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $46.73 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.12. 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 $47.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.35. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $41.39 and a 12 month high of $56.61.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 107.71% and a negative net margin of 5.80%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 52.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. Equitable’s payout ratio is -39.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.20, for a total value of $1,834,140.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 652,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,166,059. This represents a 5.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,790 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.65, for a total transaction of $323,543.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 55,023 shares in the company, valued at $2,621,845.95. This represents a 10.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 203,770 shares of company stock valued at $9,462,206 over the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.