Pzena Investment Management LLC Invests $244.05 Million in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 5,561,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,052,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC owned about 2.04% of Equitable at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EQH. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in Equitable by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in Equitable by 11.7% in the third 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. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG boosted its stake in Equitable by 1.5% in the first quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 19,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $708,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 30.2% during the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equitable Trading Down 3.9%

EQH stock opened at $51.02 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $13.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.41, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.09. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.19 and a twelve month high of $55.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The business has a fifty day moving average of $47.33 and a 200-day moving average of $43.31.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.84 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 511.35% and a negative net margin of 8.72%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.13 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is presently -36.25%.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total value of $647,689.38. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 74,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,371,882.28. This trade represents a 16.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.54, for a total transaction of $1,927,038.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 753,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,570,181.62. This represents a 5.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 114,541 shares of company stock worth $5,357,784. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on EQH shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Mizuho set a $68.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.17.

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.