William James Iv Eckert Sells 6,200 Shares of Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Stock

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.83, for a total value of $259,346.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 9,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $391,779.78. The trade was a 39.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

William James Iv Eckert also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, May 15th, William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of Equitable stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $310,104.00.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of Equitable stock traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $41.85. 5,316,310 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,881,233. 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 firm has a market cap of $11.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.73, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.10. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.19 and a 52 week high of $56.61. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.21.

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

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 reacquire up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were given a $0.30 dividend. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -42.25%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Equitable in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Equitable by 124.7% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in Equitable in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Equitable by 92.6% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Equitable by 64.1% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on EQH shares. Mizuho boosted their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. UBS Group cut their target price on Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equitable in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.