Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Given New $60.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its target price hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $60.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

EQH has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equitable in a report on Friday, May 29th. Zacks Research raised Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.36.

Equitable Price Performance

EQH stock opened at $46.67 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.93. The stock has a market cap of $12.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.10. Equitable has a 1 year low of $35.19 and a 1 year high of $55.24. 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 (NYSE:EQH) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Equitable will post 7.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -42.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total transaction of $647,689.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 74,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,371,882.28. This trade represents a 16.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.83, for a total value of $259,346.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 154,248 shares of company stock worth $6,608,358. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EQH. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Equitable by 64.1% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Equitable by 124.7% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Equitable during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Essential Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Equitable by 245.2% during the first quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 1,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

More Equitable News

Here are the key news stories impacting Equitable this week:

• Positive Sentiment: UBS Group raised its price target on Equitable Holdings and reaffirmed a buy rating, reinforcing optimism about further upside. Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Price Target Raised to $68.00 at UBS Group
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo increased its target to $60 and kept an overweight rating, adding to the bullish analyst momentum. Equitable price target raised by Wells Fargo
• Positive Sentiment: Mizuho lifted its target to $62 and maintained an outperform rating, suggesting the shares still have meaningful room to run. Equitable price target raised by Mizuho
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays reiterated its buy rating on Equitable Holdings, supporting the view that sentiment remains favorable among major analysts. Barclays Keeps Their Buy Rating on Equitable Holdings (EQH)
• Neutral Sentiment: New institutional holdings information was posted, which may attract investor attention but does not by itself indicate a major business change. Equitable Holdings, Inc. Common Stock (EQH) Institutional Holdings
• Negative Sentiment: Wolfe Research downgraded Equitable from outperform to peer perform, which slightly tempers the otherwise bullish analyst outlook. Equitable downgraded by Wolfe Research

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.