Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 20,000 Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $953,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of EQH. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Equitable in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Equitable by 124.7% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Equitable by 92.6% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in Equitable during the 4th quarter worth approximately $81,000. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equitable Stock Down 0.7%

NYSE:EQH opened at $41.10 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $40.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.40. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.19 and a 52-week high of $56.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The company has a market cap of $11.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.13.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -38.03%.

Equitable declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on EQH. Mizuho increased their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price objective on Equitable and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on Equitable and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total value of $404,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 124,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,023,375.92. This represents a 7.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $310,104.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $658,694.88. This trade represents a 32.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 154,191 shares of company stock worth $6,311,969. 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.