Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.67.

EQH has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Equitable from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Equitable from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Equitable from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st.

Equitable Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:EQH opened at $53.23 on Friday. Equitable has a 12 month low of $36.46 and a 12 month high of $56.00. The firm has a market cap of $16.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.46 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39. The company's 50 day moving average is $51.54 and its 200-day moving average is $50.96.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.14). Equitable had a return on equity of 79.05% and a net margin of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $4.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.05 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.43 EPS. The company's revenue was up 105.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Equitable will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Stockholders 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.35%.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.18, for a total transaction of $1,595,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 724,367 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,521,837.06. This represents a 3.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.57, for a total transaction of $237,850.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 139,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,615,702.61. This represents a 3.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 113,332 shares of company stock valued at $5,781,400. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 111.2% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 678 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 33.2% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 799 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Equitable Company Profile

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.

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