Estate Counselors LLC Buys New Shares in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Estate Counselors LLC purchased a new position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 45,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,688,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 424 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Equitable in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new stake in Equitable during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 267,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 196,729 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Price Performance

NYSE:EQH opened at $48.57 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $44.61 and its 200 day moving average is $42.92. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.19 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The company has a market capitalization of $13.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.10. 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 (NYSE:EQH) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.35 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. Equitable’s payout ratio is currently -42.25%.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total value of $647,689.38. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 74,748 shares in the company, valued at $3,371,882.28. The trade was a 16.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.83, for a total value of $259,346.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,366 shares in the company, valued at $391,779.78. The trade was a 39.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 88,803 shares of company stock valued at $3,913,078 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research cut shares of Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Mizuho increased their price target on Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Equitable from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.08.

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.