Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Price Target to $59.00

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its target price cut by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $59.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 28.70% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on EQH. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Equitable from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Equitable from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Equitable from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.67.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of EQH traded down $3.76 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $45.84. The stock had a trading volume of 1,967,209 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,105,732. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $52.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.88. Equitable has a fifty-two week low of $35.49 and a fifty-two week high of $56.00.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.08). Equitable had a return on equity of 85.70% and a net margin of 10.51%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Equitable will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total transaction of $1,291,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 121,629 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,282,137.85. This represents a 17.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total transaction of $1,549,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 629,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,536,349.35. This trade represents a 4.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 103,332 shares of company stock valued at $5,364,610 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Equitable by 33.2% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 799 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 9,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Equitable by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the period. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its holdings in Equitable by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 4,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

About Equitable

Equitable Holdings, Inc, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Investment Management and Research, Protection Solutions, Wealth Management, and Legacy.