Caprock Group LLC Acquires Shares of 41,591 Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 41,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,215,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $703,060,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Equitable by 26.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,428,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $415,786,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551,551 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Equitable by 29.6% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,498,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,443,000 after acquiring an additional 1,254,521 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 18.3% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,985,846 shares of the company’s stock worth $223,168,000 after acquiring an additional 615,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 71.5% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,565,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $199,958,000 after purchasing an additional 1,486,286 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EQH. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Equitable in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Equitable from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Raymond James Financial set a $60.00 price target on shares of Equitable in a report on Monday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equitable currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.42.

Equitable Price Performance

Equitable stock opened at $44.35 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.20, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.42. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $41.39 and a 52-week high of $56.61.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. Equitable’s payout ratio is currently -22.41%.

Equitable announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 11th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 652,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,166,059. This trade represents a 5.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 4,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.27, for a total value of $203,261.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,625 shares in the company, valued at $738,593.75. This trade represents a 21.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 203,770 shares of company stock worth $9,462,206 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Company 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.