Equitable (NYSE:EQH) CEO Mark Pearson Sells 39,700 Shares

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.88, for a total transaction of $1,900,836.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 665,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,861,506.60. This trade represents a 5.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Mark Pearson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, November 18th, Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.14, for a total value of $1,712,658.00.
• On Monday, October 20th, Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.17, for a total value of $1,912,349.00.

Equitable Stock Performance

NYSE:EQH traded up $0.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $48.04. The stock had a trading volume of 6,333,711 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,842,638. The company has a current ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.87. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.41 and a beta of 1.12. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $41.39 and a 52 week high of $56.61.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 5.80% and a positive return on equity of 107.71%. Equitable’s revenue was down 52.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.58 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 24th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is currently -39.13%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EQH. Norges Bank bought a new position in Equitable in the 2nd quarter worth $703,060,000. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 49.5% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,232,000 after purchasing an additional 3,645,301 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth about $101,547,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in Equitable by 553.0% during the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,166,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,553,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834,889 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Equitable by 26.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,428,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $415,786,000 after buying an additional 1,551,551 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho assumed coverage on Equitable in a research note on Monday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $66.00 price target on the stock. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Equitable in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 16th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Equitable to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Equitable in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.33.

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.