Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Purchases 19,383 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 217.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,300 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,383 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Equitable were worth $1,050,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 24.4% during the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 336,272 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,473,000 after buying an additional 66,009 shares in the last quarter. Compass Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the first quarter valued at approximately $480,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Equitable in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,047,000. BTC Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Equitable by 47.2% during the 1st quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 106,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,962,000 after acquiring an additional 34,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Equitable by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $383,000 after acquiring an additional 696 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Equitable News

Here are the key news stories impacting Equitable this week:

• Positive Sentiment: UBS Group raised its price target on Equitable Holdings (EQH) to $68.00, signaling meaningful upside confidence. Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Price Target Raised to $68.00 at UBS Group
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo increased its target to $60.00 from $57.00 and kept an overweight rating, reinforcing a constructive outlook for EQH. Equitable had its price target raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $60.00
• Positive Sentiment: Mizuho raised its target to $62.00 from $61.00 and maintained an outperform rating, adding to the bullish analyst momentum. Equitable had its price target raised by Mizuho from $61.00 to $62.00
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays kept a Buy rating on Equitable Holdings, which supports investor sentiment even without a target change. Barclays Keeps Their Buy Rating on Equitable Holdings (EQH)
• Neutral Sentiment: Equitable’s institutional holdings update is informational and does not by itself signal a clear near-term catalyst for the stock. Equitable Holdings, Inc. Common Stock (EQH) Institutional Holdings
• Negative Sentiment: Wolfe Research downgraded Equitable Holdings to Peer Perform from outperform, which tempers the otherwise positive analyst tone. Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Downgraded to Peer Perform Rating by Wolfe Research

Equitable Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE:EQH opened at $46.98 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $43.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.92. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.19 and a 52-week high of $55.24. 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 cap of $12.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.10.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. The company 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.30 dividend. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -42.25%.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.83, for a total value of $259,346.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $391,779.78. This trade represents a 39.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of Equitable 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 position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 154,248 shares of company stock valued at $6,608,358. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore set a $63.00 target price on Equitable and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research upgraded Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.92.

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.