Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Reaches New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $45.00 to $53.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Equitable traded as high as $51.56 and last traded at $51.56, with a volume of 171 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.11.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on EQH. Barclays upped their price objective on Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Equitable from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Equitable from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.53, for a total value of $316,834.98. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 105,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,002,342.38. This trade represents a 5.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 1,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.68, for a total transaction of $79,356.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $825,162.36. This trade represents a 8.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 130,032 shares of company stock valued at $6,031,759 over the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Equitable by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,976,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $545,418,000 after buying an additional 338,205 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Equitable by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,513,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $231,735,000 after purchasing an additional 161,376 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Equitable by 15.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,083,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,855,000 after buying an additional 539,904 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the second quarter valued at $110,176,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 2.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,220,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,322,000 after buying an additional 54,380 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Equitable Trading Up 5.0 %

The company has a market capitalization of $16.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -47.30 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $47.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.71.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 76.47% and a negative net margin of 2.64%. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. Equitable’s quarterly revenue was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is presently -88.07%.

About Equitable

Equitable Holdings, Inc, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Investment Management and Research, Protection Solutions, Wealth Management, and Legacy.