Equitable (NYSE:EQH) CAO William James Iv Eckert Sells 7,300 Shares of Stock

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $310,104.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 15,506 shares in the company, valued at $658,694.88. The trade was a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Equitable Stock Performance

EQH opened at $42.75 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.04 billion, a PE ratio of -15.05, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.13. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.19 and a twelve month high of $56.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $39.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The firm 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 quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 11th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in Equitable by 180.7% during the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 32,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,667,000 after buying an additional 21,127 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd increased its stake in Equitable by 26.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 241,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,616,000 after buying an additional 50,455 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new stake in Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,684,000. Korea Investment CORP increased its stake in Equitable by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 299,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,203,000 after buying an additional 59,700 shares during the period. Finally, Algebris UK Ltd. increased its stake in Equitable by 28.6% during the 3rd quarter. Algebris UK Ltd. now owns 712,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,151,000 after buying an additional 158,488 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.18.

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.