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

Key Points

• Equitable Holdings has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating from 14 analysts: 10 rate it a buy, three recommend holding, and one gives a strong-buy rating. The average 12-month price target is $60.08, above the reported share price of $47.99.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.62 in EPS versus the $1.60 consensus and $4.23 billion in revenue versus the $3.95 billion estimate, although revenue declined 7.6% year over year.
• Equitable declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, equivalent to a 2.5% annualized yield. Insiders sold 88,803 shares worth about $3.9 million over the past 90 days, while institutional investors own 92.7% of the stock.

Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the fourteen analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $60.0833.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on EQH shares. Zacks Research upgraded Equitable from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th.

Equitable Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $47.99 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.10 billion, a PE ratio of -16.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.10. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $44.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.92. Equitable has a 12-month low of $35.19 and a 12-month high of $55.24.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 during 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%.The business's revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Equitable will post 7.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is presently -42.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.83, for a total value of $259,346.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 9,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $391,779.78. This trade represents a 39.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.28, for a total transaction of $1,797,616.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 765,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,680,087.84. The trade was a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 88,803 shares of company stock worth $3,913,078. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EQH. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC acquired a new position in Equitable in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $424,000. Community Trust & Investment Co. lifted its stake in Equitable by 22.8% during the 2nd quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 476,885 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,926,000 after acquiring an additional 88,484 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 30.8% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the company's stock valued at $523,000 after acquiring an additional 2,805 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 557.4% in the second quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,545 shares of the company's stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 1,310 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 30.2% in the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,282 shares of the company's stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equitable Company Profile

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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