Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Given New $57.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its price target decreased by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $58.00 to $57.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price points to a potential upside of 37.43% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on EQH. Weiss Ratings downgraded Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price objective on Equitable and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equitable presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.82.

Equitable Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE EQH traded down $0.36 on Wednesday, reaching $41.48. The company had a trading volume of 3,468,729 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,590,869. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $39.52 and its 200-day moving average is $44.21. The stock has a market cap of $11.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.61, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.11. 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 has a 52 week low of $35.19 and a 52 week high of $56.61.

Equitable announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total value of $1,652,711.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 789,183 shares in the company, valued at $32,853,688.29. This represents a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total value of $404,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 124,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,023,375.92. This trade represents a 7.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 128,116 shares of company stock worth $5,205,010 over the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EQH. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 92.6% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equitable during the second quarter worth about $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new position in shares of Equitable during the second quarter worth about $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 1,126.5% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,332,000 after buying an additional 267,389 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 45.8% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 626,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,120,000 after buying an additional 196,729 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.