DOWLING & PARTN Decreases Earnings Estimates for Equitable

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) – Stock analysts at DOWLING & PARTN dropped their FY2028 EPS estimates for Equitable in a note issued to investors on Friday, August 14th. DOWLING & PARTN analyst J. Hurwitz now forecasts that the company will earn $10.25 per share for the year, down from their prior estimate of $10.40. The consensus estimate for Equitable’s current full-year earnings is $7.15 per share.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on EQH. Zacks Research raised Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Weiss Ratings lowered Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Equitable in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equitable presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.17.

Equitable Stock Down 0.4%

EQH stock opened at $50.93 on Wednesday. Equitable 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 firm has a market cap of $13.90 billion, a PE ratio of -15.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50 day moving average of $47.51 and a 200 day moving average of $43.34.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its 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. Equitable had a negative net margin of 8.72% and a positive return on equity of 511.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.84 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 29.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EQH. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Equitable by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 311,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,965,000 after acquiring an additional 36,135 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Equitable by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 627,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,274,000 after purchasing an additional 104,439 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the 4th quarter worth approximately $550,995,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in shares of Equitable in the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,209,000. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Equitable by 114.8% during the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,640,000 after buying an additional 2,294,902 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 753,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,570,181.62. This represents a 5.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 1,466 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.15, for a total value of $74,985.90. Following the sale, the director directly owned 26,465 shares in the company, valued at $1,353,684.75. This trade represents a 5.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 114,541 shares of company stock worth $5,357,784. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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 paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -36.25%.

Equitable Company Profile

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.