Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Upgraded by Zacks Research to “Hold” Rating

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Equitable (NYSE:EQH) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equitable in a report on Friday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Evercore set a $63.00 price target on Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Equitable has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.64.

Equitable Trading Down 0.6%

Equitable stock opened at $43.88 on Monday. Equitable has a one year low of $35.19 and a one year high of $56.53. The business’s fifty day moving average is $42.54 and its 200 day moving average is $43.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.98 billion, a PE ratio of -15.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Equitable will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is currently -42.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.44, for a total transaction of $609,353.52. Following the transaction, 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. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total transaction of $1,652,711.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 789,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,853,688.29. The trade was a 4.79% 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 have sold a total of 216,919 shares of company stock valued at $9,118,088 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Korea Investment CORP grew its stake in Equitable by 24.9% during the third quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 299,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,203,000 after acquiring an additional 59,700 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Equitable by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 311,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,965,000 after acquiring an additional 36,135 shares in the last quarter. Prana Capital Management LP grew its position in Equitable by 80.7% in the third quarter. Prana Capital Management LP now owns 209,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,652,000 after acquiring an additional 93,660 shares in the last quarter. Advent International L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Equitable in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,893,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Equitable by 25.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 532,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,057,000 after buying an additional 106,967 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.