Compass Advisory Group LLC Purchases Shares of 12,922 Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Compass Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 12,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $480,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,047,000. BTC Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Equitable by 47.2% in the first quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 106,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,962,000 after buying an additional 34,237 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Equitable by 7.2% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $383,000 after buying an additional 696 shares in the last quarter. OP Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in Equitable during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,231,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Equitable by 437.5% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 74,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,764,000 after acquiring an additional 60,625 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equitable Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of Equitable stock opened at $43.77 on Friday. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.19 and a 52-week high of $56.61. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $42.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.10.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.35 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Equitable’s payout ratio is currently -42.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on EQH shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.64.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total transaction of $647,689.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 74,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,371,882.28. This represents a 16.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total value of $187,501.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 124,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,273,054.10. This trade represents a 3.43% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 216,919 shares of company stock valued at $9,118,088 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.