Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Stock Position Lowered by Nordea Investment Management AB

Nordea Investment Management AB decreased its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,967,985 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,805 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Equitable were worth $189,908,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of EQH. Groupe la Francaise raised its position in Equitable by 8.2% in the second quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 2,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. NFC Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. NFC Investments LLC now owns 75,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,224,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 64.0% in the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 938 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First National Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 52,893 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,686,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQH has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Weiss Ratings cut Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $60.00 price objective on Equitable in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.64.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of EQH opened at $37.31 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $43.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.70. The stock has a market cap of $10.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.74, a PEG ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.42, a current ratio of 0.13 and a quick ratio of 0.13. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $36.58 and a one year high of $56.61.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -22.41%.

Equitable announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.20, for a total value of $1,834,140.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 652,945 shares in the company, valued at $30,166,059. This represents a 5.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,790 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.65, for a total value of $323,543.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 55,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,621,845.95. The trade was a 10.98% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 76,490 shares of company stock valued at $3,587,184. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Equitable 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.