Equitable (NYSE:EQH) COO Jeffrey Hurd Sells 14,358 Shares

Key Points

• Equitable COO Jeffrey Hurd sold 14,358 shares on April 8 at an average price of $40.04 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, generating $574,894 and reducing his stake by 13.84% to 89,403 shares (≈$3.58M).
• The company has authorized a $1.0 billion stock buyback (up to ~7.7% of shares) and paid a quarterly dividend of $0.27 (annualized $1.08, yield ~2.8%), while the stock recently traded around $38.51 (down 0.9%).
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but leans positive with an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $58.09, despite downgrades from Weiss and Zacks.

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) COO Jeffrey Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total transaction of $574,894.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 89,403 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,579,696.12. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Equitable Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE EQH traded down $0.34 during trading on Thursday, hitting $38.51. The company had a trading volume of 5,018,124 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,591,020. The company has a current ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.42. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $35.19 and a one year high of $56.61. The company has a market cap of $10.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.11. The company's fifty day moving average is $40.75 and its 200-day moving average is $45.30.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. Equitable's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -22.41%.

Equitable declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on EQH shares. Mizuho set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Equitable in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Equitable in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Equitable from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Equitable from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equitable currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.09.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EQH. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 92.6% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 21.9% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,639 shares of the company's stock valued at $204,000 after acquiring an additional 654 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,133,000. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 250.0% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 82,257 shares of the company's stock worth $4,615,000 after buying an additional 58,757 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

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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