Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 26,600 Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 26,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,167,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Equitable by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its holdings in Equitable by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 1.5% in the first quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 19,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $708,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional boosted its stake in Equitable by 30.2% in the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of EQH opened at $50.15 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $48.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.57. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.19 and a fifty-two week high of $55.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.69 billion, a PE ratio of -15.15, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 0.15.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.84 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 8.72% and a positive return on equity of 511.35%. Equitable’s revenue was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -36.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Equitable from $62.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Equitable from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Equitable from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.75.

Insider Transactions 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 value of $1,927,038.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 753,403 shares in the company, valued at $36,570,181.62. The trade was a 5.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total transaction of $647,689.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 74,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,371,882.28. This represents a 16.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 114,541 shares of company stock worth $5,357,784. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Equitable 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.