Prudential PLC Sells 152,462 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Prudential PLC trimmed its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 94.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,177 shares of the company’s stock after selling 152,462 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Equitable were worth $437,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Korea Investment CORP increased its stake in Equitable by 24.9% in the third quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 299,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,203,000 after acquiring an additional 59,700 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in Equitable by 43.1% in the third quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 149,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,580,000 after acquiring an additional 44,978 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Equitable by 23.8% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 386,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,618,000 after acquiring an additional 74,312 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake 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 last quarter. Finally, Prana Capital Management LP increased its stake in Equitable by 80.7% in the third quarter. Prana Capital Management LP now owns 209,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,652,000 after acquiring an additional 93,660 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Equitable Stock Performance

NYSE EQH opened at $41.33 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $40.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.22. The stock has a market cap of $11.64 billion, a PE ratio of -14.55, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.11. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.19 and a fifty-two week high of $56.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.30 dividend. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Equitable’s payout ratio is presently -42.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total value of $1,652,711.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 789,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,853,688.29. The trade was a 4.79% 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, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $310,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $658,694.88. This represents a 32.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 156,661 shares of company stock valued at $6,413,437 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EQH. Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.18.

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.