Bokf Na Sells 11,841 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Bokf Na lessened its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 41.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,424 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,841 shares during the period. Bokf Na’s holdings in Equitable were worth $783,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 85.9% during the fourth quarter. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations now owns 134,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,396,000 after buying an additional 62,040 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC now owns 100,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,784,000 after buying an additional 877 shares during the last quarter. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new stake in shares of Equitable during the fourth quarter worth $49,209,000. Danske Bank A S grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Danske Bank A S now owns 163,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,803,000 after purchasing an additional 12,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 99,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,746,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total transaction of $1,652,711.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 789,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,853,688.29. This represents a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total transaction of $404,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 124,218 shares in the company, valued at $5,023,375.92. This represents a 7.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 128,116 shares of company stock worth $5,205,010. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EQH. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Equitable from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Zacks Research cut shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Equitable and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equitable currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.09.

Equitable Price Performance

EQH stock opened at $42.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $12.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.00, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.19 and a 12-month high of $56.61. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.02.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion for 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%. Equitable’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Equitable’s payout ratio is presently -38.03%.

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.