Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Shares Acquired by Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 32.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 53,197 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,900 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Equitable were worth $1,974,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable during the third quarter worth $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Equitable by 64.1% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Equitable by 124.7% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Equitable during the third quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Equitable by 92.6% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQH has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equitable in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.83, for a total value of $259,346.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,366 shares in the company, valued at $391,779.78. This trade represents a 39.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 transaction, the director owned 27,931 shares in the company, valued at $1,147,405.48. This represents a 8.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 216,919 shares of company stock worth $9,118,088. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of EQH opened at $47.48 on Tuesday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $35.19 and a one year high of $56.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $42.89 and its 200-day moving average is $42.96. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $12.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.10.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -42.25%.

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.