Graham Capital Management L.P. Sells 5,259 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Graham Capital Management L.P. lessened its holdings in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 163,951 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,259 shares during the quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. owned about 0.05% of Equitable worth $7,734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Equitable by 111.2% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. increased its stake in Equitable by 61.4% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. now owns 1,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in Equitable by 298.3% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Equitable by 31.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQH has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Equitable from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Equitable from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.08.

Equitable Stock Performance

NYSE:EQH opened at $51.36 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $56.00. The stock has a market cap of $15.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.45 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.67.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.14). Equitable had a return on equity of 85.70% and a net margin of 10.51%. The company had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share. Equitable’s quarterly revenue was up 105.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. Equitable’s payout ratio is 26.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Nick Lane sold 5,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.12, for a total transaction of $255,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 139,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,109,411.76. This trade represents a 3.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.56, for a total value of $1,426,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 743,206 shares in the company, valued at $35,346,877.36. The trade was a 3.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 83,332 shares of company stock worth $4,141,315. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Equitable Company Profile

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.