Fifth Third Bancorp Grows Stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 4,896.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 100,120 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 98,116 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Equitable were worth $3,715,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 311,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,965,000 after acquiring an additional 36,135 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Equitable during the 4th quarter valued at about $550,995,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the fourth quarter worth about $49,209,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Equitable by 114.8% in the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,640,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Equitable by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,822,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,812,000 after purchasing an additional 193,640 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In related news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total value of $647,689.38. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 74,748 shares in the company, valued at $3,371,882.28. This trade represents a 16.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total transaction of $187,501.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 124,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,273,054.10. The trade was a 3.43% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 88,803 shares of company stock worth $3,913,078 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Performance

NYSE:EQH opened at $49.08 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.28, a PEG ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day moving average of $43.83 and a 200 day moving average of $42.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.19 and a 1-year high of $55.24.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is currently -42.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 target price on shares of Equitable and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.08.

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.