Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Research Coverage Started at Mizuho

Mizuho began coverage on shares of Equitable (NYSE:EQH) in a report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $66.00 target price on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on EQH. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of Equitable in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Equitable from $67.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.33.

Equitable Price Performance

EQH stock opened at $48.18 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.46 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $46.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.87, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a current ratio of 0.13. Equitable has a 52-week low of $41.39 and a 52-week high of $56.61.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 107.71% and a negative net margin of 5.80%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 52.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Equitable will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 24th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 24th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -39.13%.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 4,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.27, for a total value of $203,261.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,625 shares in the company, valued at $738,593.75. This trade represents a 21.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,790 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.28, for a total value of $293,871.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 68,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,956,370.24. The trade was a 9.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 141,107 shares of company stock worth $6,783,146 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP increased its stake in Equitable by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 101,706 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,165,000 after purchasing an additional 16,687 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new stake in shares of Equitable during the third quarter worth about $233,000. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 62.5% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 956 shares during the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 76,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,883,000 after acquiring an additional 4,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cambria Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in Equitable by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cambria Investment Management L.P. now owns 10,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,000 after acquiring an additional 2,061 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.