Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on Equitable Holdings, with 10 buy ratings, one strong buy, two holds and one sell. The average 12-month price target is $61.82, above the reported $53.66 share price.
• Equitable reported quarterly earnings of $1.70 per share, beating estimates of $1.65, though revenue fell 29.8% year over year to $1.66 billion. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, implying a 2.2% annualized yield.
• Institutional investors own 92.7% of the stock, while insiders sold 107,436 shares worth approximately $5.2 million over the past 90 days.

Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.8182.

EQH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Equitable from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Weiss Ratings lowered Equitable from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wolfe Research cut Equitable from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Equitable from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th.

Equitable Price Performance

EQH opened at $53.66 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. Equitable has a 12 month low of $35.19 and a 12 month high of $55.15. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.21. The stock has a market cap of $14.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.10.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.05. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 511.35% and a negative net margin of 8.72%.The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 29.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Equitable will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. Equitable's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -36.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Bertram Scott sold 1,466 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.15, for a total value of $74,985.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 26,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,353,684.75. This represents a 5.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 14,923 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.24, for a total value of $794,500.52. Following the transaction, the insider owned 110,007 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,856,772.68. This trade represents a 11.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 107,436 shares of company stock worth $5,196,612 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG increased its position in Equitable by 1.5% during the first quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 19,109 shares of the company's stock worth $708,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 30.2% in the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,282 shares of the company's stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 25,926 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,235,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 64.1% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 888 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 124.7% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Equitable

Equitable Holdings, Inc is a financial services company that provides retirement, life insurance and wealth management solutions. Its businesses serve individuals, families, employers and institutions through financial professionals and advisory channels.

The company's principal operations include Equitable, which offers individual life insurance, annuities, retirement plans and employee benefits, and Equitable Advisors, which provides financial planning and investment advice. Equitable Holdings also owns a majority interest in AllianceBernstein, a global investment management firm serving institutional and retail clients.

The company traces its history to 1859, when the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States was founded.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.