Fiera Capital Corp Raises Stock Holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Fiera Capital Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 31.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 683,700 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 164,028 shares during the quarter. Fiera Capital Corp owned approximately 0.24% of Equitable worth $32,578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Equitable during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Equitable by 124.7% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in Equitable during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Equitable by 92.6% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Torren Management LLC purchased a new position in Equitable during the fourth quarter worth approximately $81,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Price Performance

NYSE:EQH opened at $41.33 on Tuesday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $35.19 and a one year 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 stock has a market cap of $11.64 billion, a PE ratio of -14.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $40.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.22.

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

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.30 dividend. This is a boost from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Equitable’s payout ratio is -42.25%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. UBS Group decreased 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Evercore set a $63.00 target price on Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.18.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $310,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 15,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $658,694.88. This trade represents a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,470 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total value of $101,467.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 27,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,147,405.48. This trade represents a 8.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 156,661 shares of company stock valued at $6,413,437. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.