Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $58.6364.

EQH has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research raised Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Mizuho increased their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays lifted their price target on Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Equitable from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th.

Equitable Stock Up 0.5%

EQH stock opened at $44.10 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $12.04 billion, a PE ratio of -15.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.10. Equitable has a 12 month low of $35.19 and a 12 month high of $56.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.01.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Equitable will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Equitable’s payout ratio is -42.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In related news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.83, for a total value of $259,346.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $391,779.78. This trade represents a 39.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.28, for a total transaction of $1,797,616.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 765,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,680,087.84. The trade was a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 216,919 shares of company stock valued at $9,118,088 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Equitable during the fourth quarter valued at $550,995,000. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Equitable by 49.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,232,000 after acquiring an additional 3,645,301 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in Equitable by 7,955.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,424,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,585,000 after acquiring an additional 2,394,721 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Equitable by 114.8% during the 4th quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,640,000 after acquiring an additional 2,294,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, London Co. of Virginia increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 4,141.8% in the 3rd quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 1,235,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,726,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206,122 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

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.