Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Makes New Investment in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 512,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,509,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Equitable during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,136,305,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Equitable in the fourth quarter worth $550,995,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Equitable during the second quarter valued at $244,052,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor purchased a new position in Equitable during the second quarter valued at $208,146,000. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,545,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $645,449,000 after buying an additional 2,532,791 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on EQH shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their target price on Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Mizuho set a $68.00 price objective on Equitable in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Craig C. Mackay sold 2,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.37, for a total value of $113,014.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,999 shares in the company, valued at $975,978.63. This represents a 10.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 753,403 shares in the company, valued at $36,570,181.62. This trade represents a 5.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 114,541 shares of company stock worth $5,357,784. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Trading Down 1.5%

Equitable stock opened at $50.09 on Thursday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.19 and a 52-week high of $55.15. The company has a market cap of $13.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.37.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.84 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 8.72% and a positive return on equity of 511.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 29.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. Analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -36.25%.

Equitable Company 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.