Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Takes Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $953,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Equitable by 124.7% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Equitable by 92.6% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the period. Finally, Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in Equitable during the 4th quarter worth $81,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price objective on Equitable and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on Equitable and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.18.

Equitable Price Performance

EQH stock opened at $41.10 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.40. The stock has a market cap of $11.57 billion, a PE ratio of -14.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.13. 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 1 year low of $35.19 and a 1 year high of $56.61.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.The company’s revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a boost from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is currently -38.03%.

Equitable declared that its Board of Directors 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 buy up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other news, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total value of $404,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 124,218 shares in the company, valued at $5,023,375.92. This trade represents a 7.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.44, for a total value of $609,353.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 79,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,369,863.32. The trade was a 15.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 154,191 shares of company stock worth $6,311,969 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.