Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Has $608,000 Stock Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 88.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,964 shares of the company’s stock after selling 93,040 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Equitable were worth $608,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Equitable in the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 592.6% during the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 561 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 92.6% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the period. MAI Capital Management raised its holdings in Equitable by 64.0% in the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new position in Equitable in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Equitable in a report on Monday, December 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $66.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Equitable from $67.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.33.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of EQH stock opened at $48.74 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $46.82 and a 200-day moving average of $50.68. The company has a market cap of $13.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.66 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.87. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $41.39 and a 52 week high of $56.61.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 107.71% and a negative net margin of 5.80%.The firm’s revenue was down 52.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.58 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 24th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 24th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -39.13%.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 4,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.27, for a total value of $203,261.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 15,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $738,593.75. This trade represents a 21.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.88, for a total value of $1,900,836.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 665,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,861,506.60. This represents a 5.63% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 173,770 shares of company stock valued at $8,120,014. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.