Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.05, FiscalAI reports. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%.

Equitable Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of EQH stock traded up $0.26 on Tuesday, hitting $48.26. The stock had a trading volume of 3,823,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,756,896. 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 has a twelve month low of $35.19 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $45.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.94. The firm has a market cap of $13.17 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.99, a PEG ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.09.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Equitable’s payout ratio is -42.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.54, for a total transaction of $1,927,038.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 753,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,570,181.62. The trade was a 5.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,470 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total value of $101,467.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 27,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,147,405.48. The trade was a 8.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 128,503 shares of company stock worth $5,840,116 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Equitable by 92.6% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in Equitable in the 2nd quarter worth $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 1,126.5% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,332,000 after buying an additional 267,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Equitable by 45.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 626,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,120,000 after buying an additional 196,729 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Equitable from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Equitable from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Evercore set a $63.00 price target on Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.08.

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.