Equitable (NYSE:EQH) COO Jeffrey Hurd Sells 14,358 Shares of Stock

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) COO Jeffrey Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total value of $647,689.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 74,748 shares in the company, valued at $3,371,882.28. This trade represents a 16.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Equitable Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $45.36 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The company has a market cap of $12.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.97, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.10. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.19 and a 12 month high of $56.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $41.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.14.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -42.25%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Equitable by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in Equitable by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its holdings in Equitable by 11.7% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG boosted its position in Equitable by 1.5% during the first quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 19,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $708,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in Equitable by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EQH. UBS Group upped their target price on Equitable from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price objective on Equitable and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, May 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.64.

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.