Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Insider Nick Lane Sells 4,417 Shares

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total transaction of $187,501.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 124,218 shares in the company, valued at $5,273,054.10. The trade was a 3.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Nick Lane also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, April 15th, Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of Equitable stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total transaction of $404,400.00.
• On Wednesday, April 8th, Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of Equitable stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total transaction of $400,400.00.

Equitable Stock Performance

NYSE:EQH traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $42.75. 4,271,419 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,709,213. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.19 and a twelve month high of $56.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $39.64 and a 200 day moving average of $43.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.13.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.35 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.11 EPS for the current year.

Equitable announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Equitable in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 64.1% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 124.7% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Equitable in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 92.6% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQH has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore set a $63.00 price target on Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. UBS Group reduced their target price on Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.18.

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.