Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $58.1818.

Several analysts have issued reports on EQH shares. Mizuho upped their target price on Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Evercore set a $63.00 target price on Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Barclays upped their target price on Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th.

Equitable Price Performance

EQH stock opened at $40.86 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.50 billion, a PE ratio of -14.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 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 has a 1 year low of $35.19 and a 1 year high of $56.61.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Equitable will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -42.25%.

Equitable announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total transaction of $1,652,711.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 789,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,853,688.29. This represents a 4.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $310,104.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 15,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $658,694.88. This represents a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 156,661 shares of company stock worth $6,413,437. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Essential Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 245.2% during the 1st quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 1,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 15.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 889,016 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,991,000 after purchasing an additional 121,261 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 78.7% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 61,432 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,280,000 after purchasing an additional 27,052 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 18.3% during the 1st quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 377,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,015,000 after purchasing an additional 58,506 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 26.6% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 526 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equitable Company 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.