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

Key Points

• Equitable Holdings has an average analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 13 brokerages, with a consensus 12-month target price of about $58.18.
• The company recently beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $1.62 EPS versus the $1.60 estimate and revenue of $4.23 billion versus $3.95 billion expected, even though revenue declined year over year.
• Equitable also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.30 per share and has a $1 billion share repurchase authorization in place, while insiders have sold shares in recent months.

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $58.1818.

Several analysts recently commented on EQH shares. Barclays raised their target price on Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Mizuho raised their target price on Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Equitable from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th.

Equitable Stock Up 1.6%

Equitable stock opened at $40.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.10. Equitable has a 52 week low of $35.19 and a 52 week high of $56.61. The business's 50-day moving average price is $40.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.Equitable's revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.35 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equitable will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is -42.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.44, for a total value of $609,353.52. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 79,403 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,369,863.32. This trade represents a 15.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,470 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total value of $101,467.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 27,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,147,405.48. The trade was a 8.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 156,661 shares of company stock valued at $6,413,437 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

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

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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