Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Purchases 19,383 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 217.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,300 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,383 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Equitable were worth $1,050,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in EQH. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,258,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $822,351,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132,861 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Equitable by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,545,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $645,449,000 after buying an additional 2,532,791 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Equitable in the 4th quarter worth approximately $550,995,000. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Equitable by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,889,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $232,996,000 after buying an additional 22,087 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,822,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,812,000 after buying an additional 193,640 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equitable News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Equitable this week:

• Positive Sentiment: UBS Group raised its price target on Equitable Holdings (EQH) to $68.00, signaling meaningful upside confidence. Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Price Target Raised to $68.00 at UBS Group
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo increased its target to $60.00 from $57.00 and kept an overweight rating, reinforcing a constructive outlook for EQH. Equitable had its price target raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $60.00
• Positive Sentiment: Mizuho raised its target to $62.00 from $61.00 and maintained an outperform rating, adding to the bullish analyst momentum. Equitable had its price target raised by Mizuho from $61.00 to $62.00
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays kept a Buy rating on Equitable Holdings, which supports investor sentiment even without a target change. Barclays Keeps Their Buy Rating on Equitable Holdings (EQH)
• Neutral Sentiment: Equitable’s institutional holdings update is informational and does not by itself signal a clear near-term catalyst for the stock. Equitable Holdings, Inc. Common Stock (EQH) Institutional Holdings
• Negative Sentiment: Wolfe Research downgraded Equitable Holdings to Peer Perform from outperform, which tempers the otherwise positive analyst tone. Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Downgraded to Peer Perform Rating by Wolfe Research

Equitable Stock Performance

EQH opened at $46.98 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $12.82 billion, a PE ratio of -16.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.19 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.92.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. Equitable’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is currently -42.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on EQH. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Equitable from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.92.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total value of $1,652,711.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 789,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,853,688.29. This represents a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total transaction of $404,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 124,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,023,375.92. This represents a 7.45% decrease in their position. 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 sold 154,248 shares of company stock worth $6,608,358 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.10% 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.