Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 69,297 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Federated Hermes Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,169,090 shares of the company’s stock after selling 69,297 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 0.72% of Equitable worth $110,146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of EQH. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Equitable by 18.3% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,985,846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,168,000 after purchasing an additional 615,314 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 53.9% during the second quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 17,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $971,000 after buying an additional 6,065 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Equitable in the 2nd quarter valued at about $817,000. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equitable in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $434,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 3,555.3% during the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 21,932 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 21,332 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of EQH stock opened at $46.16 on Thursday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $41.39 and a fifty-two week high of $56.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.23 billion, a PE ratio of -16.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.87, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a current ratio of 0.13. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.50.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.48 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 firm had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. Equitable’s quarterly revenue was down 52.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 24th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -39.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on EQH shares. Mizuho set a $65.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Zacks Research cut Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Equitable from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Barclays set a $58.00 price target on Equitable in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,790 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief operating officer owned 55,023 shares in the company, valued at $2,621,845.95. This represents a 10.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $738,593.75. This trade represents a 21.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 203,770 shares of company stock valued at $9,462,206. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

About Equitable

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.