Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Short Interest Update

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,840,000 shares, a drop of 7.0% from the August 31st total of 4,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,210,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days. Currently, 1.2% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on EQH shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Equitable from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $41.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Equitable in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $59.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Equitable from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $40.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Equitable currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.64.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In related news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total value of $148,470.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 19,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $819,596.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total value of $148,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 19,321 shares in the company, valued at $819,596.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 9,969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.09, for a total value of $429,564.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 111,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,806,775.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 73,469 shares of company stock worth $3,067,434 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Equitable by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,012,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,265,815,000 after acquiring an additional 446,752 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Equitable by 60.9% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 100,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,819,000 after buying an additional 38,040 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 265.0% in the first quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 69,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,642,000 after buying an additional 50,460 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky bought a new position in shares of Equitable during the fourth quarter worth about $2,892,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in shares of Equitable during the second quarter worth about $831,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of Equitable stock traded down $0.32 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $41.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,725,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,505,323. Equitable has a 52 week low of $24.65 and a 52 week high of $44.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.06. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $40.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.89. The firm has a market cap of $13.57 billion, a PE ratio of 12.91 and a beta of 1.42.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. Equitable had a return on equity of 87.49% and a net margin of 7.87%. Equitable’s quarterly revenue was up 47.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Equitable will post 6.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. Equitable’s payout ratio is presently 29.72%.

About Equitable

Equitable Holdings, Inc, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Investment Management and Research, Protection Solutions, Wealth Management, and Legacy.