Mark Pearson Sells 39,700 Shares of Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Stock

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.20, for a total transaction of $1,834,140.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 652,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,166,059. This trade represents a 5.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Mark Pearson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, December 18th, Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.88, for a total transaction of $1,900,836.00.
• On Tuesday, November 18th, Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.14, for a total transaction of $1,712,658.00.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $46.32 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $46.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.78 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.87. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $41.39 and a 52 week high of $56.61.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 107.71% and a negative net margin of 5.80%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 52.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.58 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 24th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 24th. Equitable’s payout ratio is currently -39.13%.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the third quarter valued at $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 592.6% in the 2nd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equitable in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in Equitable in the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EQH. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $67.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Equitable from $62.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equitable presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $62.54.

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.