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

Key Points

• Equitable Holdings received a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 13 brokerages, with nine buy ratings and two strong-buy ratings. The average 12-month price target is about $58.64.
• The company posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings, reporting $1.62 EPS versus the $1.60 estimate, and revenue of $4.23 billion, above forecasts. However, revenue still declined 7.6% year over year.
• Equitable also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.30 from $0.27, implying an annualized yield of about 2.7%. Meanwhile, insiders have sold shares recently, including COO Jeffrey J. Hurd and insider Nick Lane.

Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $58.6364.

EQH has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Mizuho raised their target price on Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 target price on Equitable and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Equitable from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.44, for a total value of $609,353.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 79,403 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,369,863.32. This represents a 15.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total transaction of $404,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 124,218 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,023,375.92. This trade represents a 7.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 216,919 shares of company stock worth $9,118,088. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 92.6% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Equitable during the second quarter valued at about $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new position in Equitable during the second quarter worth about $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its position in Equitable by 1,126.5% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,126 shares of the company's stock worth $16,332,000 after acquiring an additional 267,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Equitable by 45.8% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 626,017 shares of the company's stock worth $35,120,000 after acquiring an additional 196,729 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equitable Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $44.10 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $12.04 billion, a PE ratio of -15.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.10. The company's 50-day moving average price is $42.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.01. Equitable has a fifty-two week low of $35.19 and a fifty-two week high of $56.42. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.35 EPS. Equitable's revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Equitable will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 2.7%. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is currently -42.25%.

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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