Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.30 Per Share

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.30 per share on Monday, June 8th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This is a 11.1% increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27.

Equitable has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. Equitable has a payout ratio of 13.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Equitable to earn $8.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.3%.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of EQH stock opened at $42.46 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50 day moving average is $39.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. Equitable has a 12-month low of $35.19 and a 12-month high of $56.61.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.Equitable’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Equitable will post 7.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 11th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Equitable

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.