Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Shares Sold by BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lowered its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 92.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,147 shares of the company’s stock after selling 158,139 shares during the quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in Equitable were worth $579,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Equitable during the fourth quarter worth about $550,995,000. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 49.5% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,232,000 after purchasing an additional 3,645,301 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 0.3% during the third quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,867,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,179,000 after purchasing an additional 12,370 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 193,640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 4,325,348 shares of the company’s stock worth $206,103,000 after purchasing an additional 28,340 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $41.85 on Thursday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.19 and a 1 year high of $56.61. The firm has a market cap of $11.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.73, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.20.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is presently -42.25%.

Equitable announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 11th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on EQH. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on Equitable and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price objective on Equitable and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.83, for a total transaction of $259,346.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $391,779.78. The trade was a 39.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,470 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total value of $101,467.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 27,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,147,405.48. The trade was a 8.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 162,861 shares of company stock valued at $6,672,783. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.