DOWLING & PARTN Forecasts Stronger Earnings for Equitable

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) – Equities research analysts at DOWLING & PARTN increased their FY2026 earnings per share estimates for shares of Equitable in a research note issued on Monday, July 13th. DOWLING & PARTN analyst J. Hurwitz now forecasts that the company will post earnings of $7.15 per share for the year, up from their previous forecast of $7.00. The consensus estimate for Equitable’s current full-year earnings is $7.09 per share. DOWLING & PARTN also issued estimates for Equitable’s FY2027 earnings at $8.80 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $10.40 EPS.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on EQH. Barclays reduced their target price on Equitable from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equitable in a report on Friday, May 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.08.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of EQH stock opened at $47.27 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $43.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.90. The firm has a market cap of $12.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.10. Equitable has a 1-year low of $35.19 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.The business’s revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.35 EPS.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -42.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total value of $187,501.65. Following the sale, the insider owned 124,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,273,054.10. This trade represents a 3.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total transaction of $647,689.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 74,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,371,882.28. This represents a 16.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 128,503 shares of company stock valued at $5,565,789 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EQH. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Equitable in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $550,995,000. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Equitable by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,545,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $645,449,000 after acquiring an additional 2,532,791 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 7,955.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,424,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,585,000 after purchasing an additional 2,394,721 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 114.8% in the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,640,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, London Co. of Virginia increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 4,141.8% during the third quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 1,235,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,726,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206,122 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

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.