Equitable Holdings, Inc. (EQH) – What Are Brokerages Thinking About This Stock?

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $63.18.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on EQH. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $52.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Equitable from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $66.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 753,403 shares in the company, valued at $36,570,181.62. This represents a 5.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 14,923 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.24, for a total value of $794,500.52. Following the sale, the insider owned 110,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,856,772.68. The trade was a 11.95% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 72,516 shares of company stock worth $3,658,629 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Equitable in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,136,305,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Equitable during the 2nd quarter worth about $399,576,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Equitable by 6.3% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,784,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $385,485,000 after buying an additional 523,638 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equitable during the second quarter valued at about $244,052,000. Finally, Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,889,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,996,000 after buying an additional 22,087 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of EQH stock traded down $0.33 during trading on Friday, reaching $53.16. The company had a trading volume of 3,120,343 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,068,188. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15. Equitable has a one year low of $35.19 and a one year high of $55.22. The company has a market capitalization of $14.51 billion, a PE ratio of -16.06, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.10.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.05. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 511.35% and a negative net margin of 8.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 29.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equitable will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Equitable’s payout ratio is presently -36.25%.

About Equitable

Equitable Holdings, Inc is a financial services company that provides retirement, protection and investment management solutions to individuals, businesses and institutions. Its businesses operate primarily in the United States and serve clients through financial professionals, employer-sponsored retirement plans and institutional relationships.

Through its Equitable business, the company offers life insurance, annuities, individual retirement products and employee benefits. Its offerings are designed to help customers accumulate and protect assets, generate retirement income and address long-term financial planning needs.