Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Shares Purchased by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 19.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 91,100 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,800 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Equitable were worth $4,341,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 49.5% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,232,000 after purchasing an additional 3,645,301 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 0.3% during the third quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,867,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,179,000 after purchasing an additional 12,370 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings 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 worth $229,812,000 after purchasing an additional 193,640 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 55,798 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 72,267 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total transaction of $1,652,711.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 789,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,853,688.29. This trade represents a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total transaction of $187,501.65. Following the sale, the insider owned 124,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,273,054.10. This represents a 3.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 154,191 shares of company stock valued at $6,311,969. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on EQH shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Equitable and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.18.

Equitable Stock Performance

NYSE:EQH opened at $42.60 on Friday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.19 and a twelve month high of $56.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The company has a 50-day moving average of $39.95 and a 200-day moving average of $43.55. The firm has a market cap of $11.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.13.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 11th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is -38.03%.

Trending Headlines about Equitable

Here are the key news stories impacting Equitable this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Equitable raised its quarterly dividend to $0.30 per share, an 11.1% increase from the prior $0.27 payout, signaling management confidence in cash generation and a stronger return of capital to shareholders.
• Positive Sentiment: News reports say Equitable is seeing strong operating cash flow growth while moving ahead with a major merger involving Corebridge Financial, which could improve its growth profile and reshape the investment story. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Director Francis Hondal disclosed multiple small open-market share purchases over time, including recent buys, which can be read as insider confidence, but the transactions are modest in size and likely not a major driver on their own.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary is described as mixed, suggesting investors are still weighing the benefits of the merger and dividend boost against execution risks and valuation questions. Article Title

Equitable 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.