Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $1.17 Million in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 26,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,167,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Equitable during the 2nd quarter worth $1,136,305,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Equitable in the fourth quarter valued at about $550,995,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in Equitable in the second quarter worth about $399,576,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable during the second quarter worth about $244,052,000. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor acquired a new position in shares of Equitable during the second quarter valued at about $208,146,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $50.15 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.57. The stock has a market cap of $13.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.15, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.19 and a 12 month high of $55.15.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -36.25%.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 947 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.88, for a total value of $50,077.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 8,419 shares in the company, valued at $445,196.72. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 1,466 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The stock was 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 approximately $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. Insiders sold 114,541 shares of company stock worth $5,357,784 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of 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 company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $66.00 price target on shares of Equitable in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.75.

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.