Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Price Target Raised to $61.00 at Barclays

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its price objective hoisted by Barclays from $60.00 to $61.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

EQH has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Equitable from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.20.

Equitable Stock Up 1.7 %

EQH stock opened at $49.36 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $47.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. Equitable has a 12-month low of $31.76 and a 12-month high of $50.51. The company has a market cap of $15.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.28 and a beta of 1.39.

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

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -88.07%.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 1,700 shares of the business’s 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.84, for a total transaction of $1,146,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 141,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,492,273.36. The trade was a 15.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 130,032 shares of company stock worth $6,031,759. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 700.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,563,172 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,367,837 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Equitable during the fourth quarter worth $458,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Equitable by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,000 after buying an additional 957 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Equitable by 195.6% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 908,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,191,000 after buying an additional 153,457 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equitable Company 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.