California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 34,779 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 664,110 shares of the company’s stock after selling 34,779 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Equitable were worth $22,115,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in Equitable by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 27,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $783,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its position in Equitable by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its position in Equitable by 143.1% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 591 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its position in Equitable by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 85,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,416,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in Equitable by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 21,793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on EQH. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Equitable presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.38, for a total value of $1,942,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 619,625 shares in the company, valued at $20,063,457.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Nick Lane sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.02, for a total transaction of $680,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 144,132 shares in the company, valued at $4,903,370.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.38, for a total value of $1,942,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 619,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,063,457.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 241,907 shares of company stock valued at $8,338,649 over the last quarter. 1.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Equitable Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $36.89 on Monday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.89 and a 12 month high of $38.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a 50-day moving average of $35.90 and a 200-day moving average of $32.68.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.50 billion. On average, analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 6.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.04%.

Equitable Profile

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.