Insider Selling: Equitable (NYSE:EQH) CEO Sells 39,700 Shares

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.54, for a total value of $1,927,038.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 753,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,570,181.62. This represents a 5.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Mark Pearson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, June 18th, Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.28, for a total value of $1,797,616.00.

Equitable Price Performance

EQH stock traded up $0.77 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $49.36. The company had a trading volume of 537,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,747,998. The business has a 50 day moving average of $44.61 and a 200 day moving average of $42.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.40, 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 Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.19 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $1.35 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. Equitable’s payout ratio is currently -42.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on EQH shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Equitable from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Evercore set a $63.00 target price on Equitable and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Equitable from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.08.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EQH. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable during the 4th quarter worth about $550,995,000. Capital International Investors raised its position in Equitable by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,545,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $645,449,000 after acquiring an additional 2,532,791 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in Equitable by 7,955.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,424,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,585,000 after acquiring an additional 2,394,721 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Equitable by 114.8% in the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,640,000 after acquiring an additional 2,294,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 337.4% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,502,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,290,000 after purchasing an additional 1,158,890 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% 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.