183,107 Shares in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Bought by SEB Asset Management AB

SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 183,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,795,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Equitable by 92.6% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in Equitable in the second quarter worth about $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new stake in Equitable in the second quarter worth about $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 1,126.5% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,332,000 after buying an additional 267,389 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 45.8% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 626,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,120,000 after buying an additional 196,729 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $48.45 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $35.19 and a one year high of $55.24. The firm has a market cap of $13.22 billion, a PE ratio of -17.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.10.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. Equitable’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.13 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -42.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Equitable from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Wolfe Research cut Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Mizuho increased their target price on Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Equitable from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.28, for a total transaction of $1,797,616.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 765,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,680,087.84. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total value of $187,501.65. Following the transaction, the insider owned 124,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,273,054.10. This represents a 3.43% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 88,803 shares of company stock worth $3,913,078. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.