Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Decreases Stock Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. trimmed its holdings in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 29.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 185,284 shares of the company’s stock after selling 78,905 shares during the period. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Equitable were worth $8,829,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,235,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equitable Stock Up 1.1%

EQH stock opened at $44.11 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.53, a PEG ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $35.19 and a one year high of $56.61. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.19.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. Equitable’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is presently -42.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Equitable and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research note on Friday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.64.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total value of $1,652,711.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 789,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,853,688.29. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total transaction of $187,501.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 124,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,273,054.10. The trade was a 3.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 162,861 shares of company stock worth $6,672,783 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.