LSV Asset Management Sells 21,500 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

LSV Asset Management lowered its holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 8.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 232,100 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,500 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management’s holdings in Equitable were worth $11,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Equitable during the 2nd quarter worth about $703,060,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 26.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,428,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $415,786,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551,551 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 29.6% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,498,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,443,000 after acquiring an additional 1,254,521 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 18.3% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,985,846 shares of the company’s stock worth $223,168,000 after purchasing an additional 615,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 71.5% during the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,565,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $199,958,000 after purchasing an additional 1,486,286 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on EQH. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Equitable in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Zacks Research lowered Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Barclays lowered their price objective on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Raymond James Financial set a $60.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.42.

Equitable Trading Up 1.8%

NYSE:EQH opened at $44.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.42. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $41.39 and a 1-year high of $56.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.20, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $47.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.89.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -22.41%.

Equitable announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,790 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.65, for a total value of $323,543.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 55,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,621,845.95. This represents a 10.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.65, for a total transaction of $1,429,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 99,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,762,998.70. This trade represents a 23.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 203,770 shares of company stock worth $9,462,206 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.