Bank of New York Mellon Corp Cuts Stock Holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Bank of New York Mellon Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,943,674 shares of the company’s stock after selling 46,106 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Equitable were worth $140,266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Truist Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Equitable by 180.7% in the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 32,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,667,000 after buying an additional 21,127 shares during the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP grew its position in shares of Equitable by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 299,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,203,000 after buying an additional 59,700 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Equitable by 43.1% in the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 149,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,580,000 after buying an additional 44,978 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Equitable by 23.8% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 386,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,618,000 after buying an additional 74,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equitable in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $101,547,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $310,104.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $658,694.88. This represents a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider owned 124,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,273,054.10. This represents a 3.43% 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 sold a total of 156,661 shares of company stock valued at $6,413,437 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.18.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $40.86 on Friday. 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 12 month low of $35.19 and a 12 month high of $56.61. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.23. The stock has a market cap of $11.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.39, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.10.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.35 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. Equitable’s payout ratio is currently -42.25%.

Equitable 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.