Brokerages Set Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Price Target at $64.18

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $64.18.

EQH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $68.00 price target (up previously from $67.00) on shares of Equitable in a report on Monday. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Equitable from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Equitable from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $66.00 price objective (up from $61.00) on shares of Equitable in a research report on Thursday, July 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.91, for a total value of $352,698.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 94,980 shares in the company, valued at $5,025,391.80. The trade was a 6.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.22, for a total transaction of $1,566,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 714,367 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $37,304,244.74. This trade represents a 4.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,666 shares of company stock valued at $7,145,208. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Equitable in the fourth quarter worth about $668,250,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Equitable by 59.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,817,020 shares of the company's stock worth $415,899,000 after buying an additional 3,303,449 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners bought a new position in Equitable in the first quarter worth about $108,264,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Equitable by 5,536.0% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,109,113 shares of the company's stock worth $110,286,000 after purchasing an additional 2,071,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Equitable during the 1st quarter valued at about $99,319,000. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Equitable Price Performance

NYSE EQH traded up $0.87 during trading on Thursday, reaching $52.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,825,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,548,556. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $53.56 and a 200 day moving average of $51.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.98 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29 and a beta of 1.15. Equitable has a one year low of $36.46 and a one year high of $56.61.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.05 billion. Equitable had a return on equity of 79.05% and a net margin of 8.50%. Equitable's quarterly revenue was up 105.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.43 EPS. Analysts expect that Equitable will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a positive change from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Equitable's payout ratio is presently 29.35%.

About Equitable

Equitable Holdings, Inc, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Investment Management and Research, Protection Solutions, Wealth Management, and Legacy.