Swedbank AB Has $24.30 Million Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Swedbank AB reduced its holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 29.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 509,896 shares of the company’s stock after selling 212,791 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Equitable were worth $24,297,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EQH. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in Equitable in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new stake in Equitable in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its stake in Equitable by 1,126.5% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,332,000 after purchasing an additional 267,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Equitable by 45.8% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 626,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,120,000 after purchasing an additional 196,729 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 target price on shares of Equitable and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.09.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other news, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total transaction of $404,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 124,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,023,375.92. This represents a 7.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.58, for a total transaction of $582,647.64. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 84,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,425,073.74. This represents a 14.54% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 128,116 shares of company stock valued at $5,205,010 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of EQH stock opened at $42.61 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $39.49 and a 200-day moving average of $44.02. 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 has a market capitalization of $12.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.13.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is currently -38.03%.

Equitable declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.