Insider Selling: Equitable (NYSE:EQH) COO Sells $647,689.38 in Stock

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) COO Jeffrey Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total transaction of $647,689.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 74,748 shares in the company, valued at $3,371,882.28. This represents a 16.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Equitable Price Performance

EQH opened at $45.36 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $41.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.77 billion, a PE ratio of -15.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.10. 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.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company 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 posted $1.35 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is currently -42.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen raised Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price target on shares of Equitable and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.64.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Equitable by 64.1% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Equitable by 124.7% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Essential Partners LLC increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.