Bleakley Financial Group LLC Makes New $391,000 Investment in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Bleakley Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 10,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $391,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EQH. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Equitable by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in Equitable by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in Equitable by 11.7% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 19,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $708,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,470 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total transaction of $101,467.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 27,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,147,405.48. The trade was a 8.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $310,104.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 15,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $658,694.88. This trade represents a 32.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 128,503 shares of company stock valued at $5,565,789. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $49.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.40 billion, a PE ratio of -17.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $43.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.95. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.19 and a 1 year high of $55.24.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.35 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.13 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. This is a boost from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is -42.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EQH. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Equitable from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.08.

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.