Lazard Asset Management LLC Grows Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 25.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 902,568 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 181,990 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned 0.32% of Equitable worth $33,494,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable during the 2nd quarter worth $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable during the 2nd quarter worth $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 267,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 196,729 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $49.38 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $44.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.93. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.19 and a 12 month high of $55.24. 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 capitalization of $13.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.10.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.35 earnings per share. Equitable’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. Equitable’s payout ratio is presently -42.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Wolfe Research cut Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research upgraded Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Equitable from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equitable presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total transaction of $647,689.38. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 74,748 shares in the company, valued at $3,371,882.28. This trade represents a 16.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.54, for a total value of $1,927,038.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 753,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,570,181.62. This trade represents a 5.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 128,503 shares of company stock worth $5,840,116. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.