Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Shares Bought by Fiera Capital Corp

Fiera Capital Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 31.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 683,700 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 164,028 shares during the quarter. Fiera Capital Corp’s holdings in Equitable were worth $32,578,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in Equitable by 11.7% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the period. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,235,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 10,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $506,000 after buying an additional 357 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 4.5% during the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 9,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $463,000 after buying an additional 389 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $41.33 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.22. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.19 and a 1 year high of $56.61.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.Equitable’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 11th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -42.25%.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other news, insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total transaction of $187,501.65. Following the sale, the insider owned 124,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,273,054.10. The trade was a 3.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.44, for a total value of $609,353.52. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 79,403 shares in the company, valued at $3,369,863.32. This trade represents a 15.31% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders sold 156,661 shares of company stock worth $6,413,437 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho raised their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Evercore set a $63.00 price target on Equitable and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.18.

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.