Capital International Inc. CA Invests $4.86 Million in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Capital International Inc. CA acquired a new position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 101,901 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,856,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Equitable in the 4th quarter valued at about $550,995,000. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 49.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $559,232,000 after purchasing an additional 3,645,301 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 114.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,294,902 shares during the period. London Co. of Virginia raised 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. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 337.4% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,502,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,290,000 after purchasing an additional 1,158,890 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on EQH. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Evercore set a $63.00 price target on shares of Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equitable currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.18.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 789,183 shares in the company, valued at $32,853,688.29. This trade represents a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 27,931 shares in the company, valued at $1,147,405.48. This represents a 8.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 156,661 shares of company stock valued at $6,413,437. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Performance

NYSE EQH opened at $41.33 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.22. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.19 and a 1 year high of $56.61.

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. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.35 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were given a $0.30 dividend. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -42.25%.

Equitable declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan 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 plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.