Equitable Holdings, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 (NYSE:EQH)

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 13th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share on Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th.

Equitable has raised its dividend payment by an average of 9.8% annually over the last three years. Equitable has a dividend payout ratio of 11.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Equitable to earn $8.29 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 11.6%.

Equitable Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $55.03 on Monday. Equitable has a 1-year low of $32.96 and a 1-year high of $56.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 0.07 and a quick ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $16.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.41 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $51.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.92.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.08). Equitable had a return on equity of 85.70% and a net margin of 10.51%. Sell-side analysts predict that Equitable will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 1,700 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.68, for a total transaction of $79,356.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $825,162.36. The trade was a 8.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.31, for a total transaction of $1,419,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 639,939 shares in the company, valued at $30,275,514.09. This represents a 4.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 131,698 shares of company stock valued at $6,534,234. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial upped their price target on Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.17.

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.