Brokerages Set Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) PT at $61.27

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $61.2727.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on EQH shares. Raymond James Financial set a $60.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Mizuho set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Equitable in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Wall Street Zen raised Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Zacks Research cut Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research report on Monday, December 29th.

Equitable Stock Down 4.1%

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $40.18 on Friday. Equitable has a 52 week low of $39.36 and a 52 week high of $56.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $46.00 and its 200 day moving average is $48.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.42, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a current ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.34, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.12.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is -22.41%.

Equitable announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 4,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.27, for a total transaction of $203,261.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $738,593.75. This represents a 21.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,790 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.65, for a total value of $323,543.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 55,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,621,845.95. The trade was a 10.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 157,280 shares of company stock valued at $7,455,677 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EQH. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable during the second quarter valued at about $703,060,000. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Equitable by 49.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $559,232,000 after buying an additional 3,645,301 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Equitable by 7,955.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,424,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,585,000 after buying an additional 2,394,721 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Equitable by 114.8% during the 4th quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,640,000 after buying an additional 2,294,902 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Equitable by 26.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,428,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $415,786,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551,551 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

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.