Jeffrey Hurd Sells 6,790 Shares of Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Stock

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) COO Jeffrey Hurd sold 6,790 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.65, for a total value of $323,543.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 55,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,621,845.95. This represents a 10.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Equitable Stock Down 1.1%

Equitable stock opened at $46.80 on Friday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $41.39 and a twelve month high of $56.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $46.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.96 and a beta of 1.13.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by ($0.11). Equitable had a negative net margin of 5.80% and a positive return on equity of 107.71%. The company had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 52.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 24th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 24th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is presently -39.13%.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 92.6% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the period. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. acquired a new position in Equitable in the second quarter valued at $634,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Equitable during the second quarter worth about $3,455,000. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Equitable by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 721,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,495,000 after buying an additional 15,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its holdings in Equitable by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 89,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,014,000 after buying an additional 2,426 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research note on Monday, December 29th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Equitable in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Equitable from $77.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 price objective on Equitable in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Equitable from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Monday, January 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.54.

Equitable Company Profile

Equitable Holdings, Inc (NYSE: EQH) is a leading provider of life insurance, annuities and retirement plan services in the United States. Through its insurance subsidiary, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, the firm offers a broad range of permanent and term life insurance products designed to help individuals and families manage risk and build wealth. In addition, Equitable provides fixed, variable and indexed annuity solutions to support income planning in retirement, as well as a suite of group retirement and pension plan services for employers and plan sponsors.

The company also maintains an asset management arm that delivers investment strategies across equities, fixed income and alternative asset classes for both retail and institutional clients.