Royal Bank of Canada Boosts Stock Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 23.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 329,454 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 63,162 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.11% of Equitable worth $17,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Equitable during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Equitable during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Equitable during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 841 shares during the period. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in Equitable during the 1st quarter valued at $80,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.05, for a total transaction of $2,106,085.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 703,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,295,688.45. This represents a 5.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.09, for a total value of $212,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 19,827 shares in the company, valued at $1,052,615.43. This represents a 16.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 143,090 shares of company stock valued at $7,549,152. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Equitable from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Equitable from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Equitable from $66.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Equitable from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.90.

Equitable Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $52.73 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $52.92 and its 200 day moving average is $52.06. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.99 and a 1 year high of $56.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.52 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94, a current ratio of 0.14 and a quick ratio of 0.14.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 5th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 5th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is currently 87.10%.

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.