Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Shares Sold by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 630,552 shares of the company’s stock after selling 70,075 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Equitable were worth $35,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable during the first quarter valued at about $108,264,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 23.4% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,878,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $566,662,000 after purchasing an additional 2,061,496 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Equitable in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $99,319,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in Equitable by 553.0% in the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,166,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,553,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834,889 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Equitable by 26.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,428,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $415,786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551,551 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of EQH opened at $46.84 on Thursday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $41.39 and a 1 year high of $56.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.42 billion, a PE ratio of -16.97 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.87, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a current ratio of 0.13. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.52.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.65 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 107.71% and a negative net margin of 5.80%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 52.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.58 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 24th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 24th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -39.13%.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In related news, CFO Robin M. Raju sold 36,888 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total transaction of $1,991,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 140,258 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,573,932. The trade was a 20.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.14, for a total value of $1,712,658.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 676,540 shares in the company, valued at $29,185,935.60. This trade represents a 5.54% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 176,358 shares of company stock valued at $8,760,599. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on EQH. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Equitable from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Equitable to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equitable presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.18.

Equitable 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.