Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $143.09 Million Holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 12.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,856,717 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 429,621 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 1.37% of Equitable worth $143,095,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Equitable by 92.6% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equitable during the 2nd quarter worth $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new position in shares of Equitable during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 1,126.5% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,332,000 after purchasing an additional 267,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 45.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 626,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,120,000 after purchasing an additional 196,729 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of EQH opened at $47.99 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.10 billion, a PE ratio of -16.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $35.19 and a one year high of $55.24. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $44.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.92.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.The company had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. Equitable’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -42.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total transaction of $647,689.38. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 74,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,371,882.28. The trade was a 16.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total transaction of $187,501.65. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 124,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,273,054.10. This represents a 3.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 88,803 shares of company stock worth $3,913,078. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on EQH shares. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Zacks Research upgraded Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Equitable from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.