DOWLING & PARTN Predicts Equitable FY2026 Earnings

Key Points

• DOWLING & PARTN projected Equitable’s FY2026 earnings at $7.00 per share, slightly below the current consensus estimate of $7.08. The firm also forecast FY2027 EPS of $8.60 and FY2028 EPS of $10.25.
• Equitable recently reported Q1 EPS of $1.62, beating estimates by $0.02, and posted revenue of $4.23 billion, above expectations. However, revenue still declined 7.6% from the same quarter a year earlier.
• The company boosted its quarterly dividend to $0.30 per share from $0.27 and continues a $1 billion share buyback program. These shareholder returns come as insiders sold shares and analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus rating.

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) - Equities research analysts at DOWLING & PARTN issued their FY2026 EPS estimates for shares of Equitable in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, May 20th. DOWLING & PARTN analyst J. Hurwitz expects that the company will post earnings of $7.00 per share for the year. The consensus estimate for Equitable's current full-year earnings is $7.08 per share. DOWLING & PARTN also issued estimates for Equitable's FY2027 earnings at $8.60 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $10.25 EPS.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. The business's revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on EQH. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Equitable from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Equitable from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $58.18.

Equitable Stock Performance

NYSE:EQH opened at $41.42 on Thursday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $40.23 and its 200-day moving average is $43.43. Equitable has a 52-week low of $35.19 and a 52-week high of $56.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The company has a market cap of $11.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.59, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.13.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Equitable in the fourth quarter valued at about $550,995,000. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Equitable by 49.5% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company's stock valued at $559,232,000 after buying an additional 3,645,301 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Equitable by 7,955.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,424,823 shares of the company's stock valued at $116,585,000 after buying an additional 2,394,721 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Equitable by 114.8% in the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company's stock valued at $204,640,000 after buying an additional 2,294,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, London Co. of Virginia boosted its position in Equitable by 4,141.8% in the third quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 1,235,243 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,726,000 after buying an additional 1,206,122 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In related news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $310,104.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 15,506 shares of the company's stock, valued at $658,694.88. The trade was a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total transaction of $1,652,711.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 789,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,853,688.29. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 154,191 shares of company stock worth $6,311,969. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This is an increase from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Equitable's payout ratio is presently -38.03%.

Equitable declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 11th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.

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