Stifel Financial Corp Cuts Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Stifel Financial Corp lowered its position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 55.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,532 shares of the company’s stock after selling 28,135 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Equitable were worth $947,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EQH. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in Equitable by 117.3% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 246,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,060,000 after buying an additional 132,922 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Equitable by 36.3% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,737 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Equitable in the second quarter valued at about $268,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 57.8% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,969,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,470,000 after purchasing an additional 721,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 4.7% in the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 44,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,826,000 after buying an additional 2,004 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.84, for a total transaction of $1,146,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 141,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,492,273.36. This represents a 15.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total value of $1,332,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 658,555 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,239,842. This trade represents a 4.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 130,032 shares of company stock valued at $6,031,759. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of EQH stock opened at $47.00 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.12 and a beta of 1.39. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $31.76 and a one year high of $50.51. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 76.47% and a negative net margin of 2.64%. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. Equitable’s quarterly revenue was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. Equitable’s payout ratio is -88.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQH has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on Equitable from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Equitable from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $54.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.10.

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.