Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Shares Purchased by Hudson Bay Capital Management LP

Hudson Bay Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 19.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 101,706 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 16,687 shares during the period. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP’s holdings in Equitable were worth $5,165,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $233,000. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in Equitable by 62.5% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in Equitable by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 76,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,883,000 after purchasing an additional 4,350 shares in the last quarter. Cambria Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in Equitable by 25.0% during the third quarter. Cambria Investment Management L.P. now owns 10,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 2,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Equitable by 90.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,436,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,956,000 after purchasing an additional 683,595 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.20, for a total transaction of $1,834,140.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 652,945 shares in the company, valued at $30,166,059. The trade was a 5.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.65, for a total transaction of $1,429,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 99,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,762,998.70. This represents a 23.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 76,490 shares of company stock valued at $3,587,184 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Up 0.2%

EQH opened at $37.31 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.46 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.74, a PEG ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.78. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.58 and a 52 week high of $56.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.42.

Equitable declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -22.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQH has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James Financial set a $60.00 target price on Equitable in a report on Monday, January 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Equitable in a research report on Monday, January 5th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Equitable from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Mizuho set a $65.00 price target on shares of Equitable in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equitable presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.64.

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.