Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $61.08.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EQH. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Equitable from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Equitable from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Equitable from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Nick Lane sold 5,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.12, for a total transaction of $255,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 139,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,109,411.76. This trade represents a 3.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.56, for a total value of $1,426,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 743,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,346,877.36. This trade represents a 3.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 83,332 shares of company stock worth $4,141,315 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EQH. Norges Bank bought a new position in Equitable during the 4th quarter worth $668,250,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 59.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,817,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $415,899,000 after buying an additional 3,303,449 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Equitable by 5,536.0% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,109,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,286,000 after acquiring an additional 2,071,691 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Equitable by 700.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,563,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,367,837 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in Equitable by 608.1% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,468,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,289,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261,466 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of EQH opened at $51.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $15.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.45 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.07. Equitable has a 52 week low of $36.46 and a 52 week high of $56.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.67.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.14). Equitable had a return on equity of 85.70% and a net margin of 10.51%. The firm had revenue of $4.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.43 EPS. Equitable’s revenue for the quarter was up 105.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Equitable will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.09%.

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.