Cerity Partners LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 72.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,469 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 16,587 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Equitable were worth $2,056,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 111.2% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 61.4% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. now owns 1,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 154.3% during the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in Equitable in the 1st quarter worth approximately $80,000. 92.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.22, for a total value of $1,566,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 714,367 shares in the company, valued at $37,304,244.74. This trade represents a 4.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.91, for a total value of $352,698.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 94,980 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,025,391.80. This trade represents a 6.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,666 shares of company stock valued at $7,145,208 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on EQH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Equitable from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $68.00 price target (up from $67.00) on shares of Equitable in a report on Monday, July 14th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Equitable from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $66.00 price target (up from $61.00) on shares of Equitable in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Equitable from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.18.

Equitable Trading Up 0.6%

Equitable stock opened at $52.90 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $53.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a current ratio of 0.10. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $36.46 and a one year high of $56.61. The stock has a market cap of $16.08 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38 and a beta of 1.15.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.05 billion. Equitable had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 79.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 105.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.43 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.35%.

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.