Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Shares Sold by Ethic Inc.

Ethic Inc. cut its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 24.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,603 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,094 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Equitable were worth $2,411,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Equitable by 49.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,232,000 after buying an additional 3,645,301 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Equitable by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,867,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,179,000 after buying an additional 12,370 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,822,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,812,000 after acquiring an additional 193,640 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Equitable by 1.3% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 4,297,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,202,000 after acquiring an additional 55,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Equitable by 2.0% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,637,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,704,000 after acquiring an additional 72,267 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equitable news, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total transaction of $404,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 124,218 shares in the company, valued at $5,023,375.92. The trade was a 7.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total transaction of $574,894.32. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 89,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,579,696.12. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 128,116 shares of company stock valued at $5,205,010 over the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on EQH shares. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price target on Equitable and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.18.

Equitable Stock Down 0.9%

NYSE:EQH opened at $40.63 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The company has a market capitalization of $11.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.13. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $35.19 and a one year high of $56.61. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.87.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

About Equitable

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.