OP Asset Management Ltd Invests $1.23 Million in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

OP Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 33,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,231,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCentric Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Equitable during the fourth quarter worth about $73,000. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.28, for a total value of $1,797,616.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 765,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,680,087.84. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,470 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total transaction of $101,467.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 27,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,147,405.48. The trade was a 8.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 216,919 shares of company stock worth $9,118,088. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on EQH. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Evercore set a $63.00 price target on shares of Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 target price on shares of Equitable and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.64.

Equitable Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $44.21 on Tuesday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.19 and a 52-week high of $56.61. The company has a market capitalization of $12.07 billion, a PE ratio of -15.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.11. 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 fifty day moving average of $42.50 and a 200-day moving average of $43.07.

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

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Equitable’s payout ratio is presently -42.25%.

About Equitable

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.