BNP Paribas Financial Markets Sells 197,363 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

BNP Paribas Financial Markets reduced its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 45.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 240,549 shares of the company’s stock after selling 197,363 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Equitable were worth $11,462,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 11.7% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. Clearstead Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,235,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 10,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $506,000 after buying an additional 357 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 4.5% during the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 9,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $463,000 after buying an additional 389 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other Equitable news, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,470 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total transaction of $101,467.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 27,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,147,405.48. The trade was a 8.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total value of $404,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 124,218 shares in the company, valued at $5,023,375.92. This represents a 7.45% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 156,661 shares of company stock worth $6,413,437 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Equitable stock opened at $40.86 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $11.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.19 and a 12-month high of $56.61. The business’s 50 day moving average is $40.65 and its 200-day moving average is $43.24.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -42.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EQH. UBS Group dropped their target price on Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Barclays upped their price target on Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Equitable and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Evercore set a $63.00 target price on shares of Equitable and gave the stock an “outperform” rating 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equitable currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.18.

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.