Equitable (NYSE:EQH) to Repurchase $1.00 billion in Stock

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 11th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Equitable from $62.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Mizuho set a $65.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. UBS Group cut their price target on Equitable from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Zacks Research downgraded Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 price objective on Equitable in a research report on Monday, January 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.42.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of EQH opened at $44.55 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.12. Equitable has a twelve month low of $41.39 and a twelve month high of $56.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $47.08 and a 200 day moving average of $49.00.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In related news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,790 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.65, for a total transaction of $323,543.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 55,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,621,845.95. This represents a 10.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 4,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.27, for a total value of $203,261.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,625 shares in the company, valued at $738,593.75. The trade was a 21.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 203,770 shares of company stock worth $9,462,206. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.