Bertram Scott Sells 2,470 Shares of Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Stock

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Director Bertram Scott sold 2,470 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total transaction of $101,467.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 27,931 shares in the company, valued at $1,147,405.48. This represents a 8.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Equitable Price Performance

Equitable stock opened at $40.86 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.10. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.19 and a 12-month high of $56.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $40.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.23.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. Equitable’s payout ratio is presently -42.25%.

Equitable announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 11th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,258,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $822,351,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132,861 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,545,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $645,449,000 after acquiring an additional 2,532,791 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Equitable during the 4th quarter valued at about $550,995,000. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,889,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,996,000 after acquiring an additional 22,087 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,822,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,812,000 after acquiring an additional 193,640 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore set a $63.00 price target on shares of Equitable and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price target on shares of Equitable and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.18.

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.