California Public Employees Retirement System Lowers Stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 5.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 405,978 shares of the company’s stock after selling 24,135 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.14% of Equitable worth $15,066,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Equitable by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG raised its position in Equitable by 1.5% in the first 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 period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total value of $647,689.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 74,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,371,882.28. The trade was a 16.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total value of $187,501.65. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 124,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,273,054.10. This trade represents a 3.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 88,803 shares of company stock valued at $3,913,078. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQH has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Barclays dropped their price target on Equitable from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.08.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $47.45 on Friday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.19 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $44.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.93. The company has a market cap of $12.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.71, a PEG ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is presently -42.25%.

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.