Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Stock Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 4,896.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 100,120 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 98,116 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Equitable were worth $3,715,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,258,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $822,351,000 after buying an additional 1,132,861 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Equitable by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,545,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $645,449,000 after purchasing an additional 2,532,791 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Equitable in the 4th quarter valued at $550,995,000. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Equitable by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,889,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,996,000 after purchasing an additional 22,087 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Equitable by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,822,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,812,000 after purchasing an additional 193,640 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other news, insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total value of $187,501.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 124,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,273,054.10. This trade represents a 3.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.83, for a total value of $259,346.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 9,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $391,779.78. The trade was a 39.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 88,803 shares of company stock worth $3,913,078. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on EQH. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Equitable and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.08.

Equitable Price Performance

NYSE EQH opened at $49.08 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The company has a market cap of $13.40 billion, a PE ratio of -17.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.10. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.19 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.91.

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

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -42.25%.

Equitable 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.