Equitable (NYSE:EQH) CEO Mark Pearson Sells 39,700 Shares of Stock

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.28, for a total value of $1,797,616.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 765,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,680,087.84. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Mark Pearson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, April 20th, Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total transaction of $1,652,711.00.
• On Wednesday, April 15th, Mark Pearson sold 1,387 shares of Equitable stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total transaction of $55,521.61.
• On Wednesday, April 8th, Mark Pearson sold 38,313 shares of Equitable stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.05, for a total transaction of $1,534,435.65.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of EQH stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $44.94. 4,640,563 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,927,621. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.19 and a fifty-two week high of $56.61. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $42.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.14. The company has a market cap of $12.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. 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 2.7%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is presently -42.25%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Equitable during the 4th quarter worth about $550,995,000. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,645,301 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Equitable by 7,955.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,424,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,585,000 after acquiring an additional 2,394,721 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Equitable by 114.8% during the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,640,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294,902 shares during the period. Finally, London Co. of Virginia grew its holdings in Equitable by 4,141.8% during the third quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 1,235,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,726,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206,122 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EQH has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays raised their price target on Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Evercore set a $63.00 target price on shares of Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued 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 $58.64.

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.