Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Director Sells 7,500 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 7,500 Equitable shares at an average price of $51.54, worth $386,550, reducing his holdings by 17.92% to 34,357 shares.
• Equitable shares rose 1.9% to $52.52, while the company reported quarterly EPS of $1.70, beating analyst expectations of $1.65. Revenue fell 29.8% year over year to $1.66 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, equivalent to a $1.20 annualized payout and a 2.3% yield. Analysts maintained a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $60.75.

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $386,550.00. Following the sale, the director owned 34,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,770,759.78. This represents a 17.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Equitable Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of Equitable stock traded up $1.00 on Monday, reaching $52.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,084,582 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,763,436. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.19 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $45.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The company has a market capitalization of $14.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.09.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.05. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 511.35% and a negative net margin of 8.72%.The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.84 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. Equitable's revenue was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is -36.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Wolfe Research lowered Equitable from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Equitable from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Mizuho set a $68.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Equitable from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $60.75.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Equitable in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,136,305,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Equitable during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $550,995,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Equitable in the second quarter worth approximately $244,052,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor bought a new position in Equitable in the second quarter worth approximately $208,146,000. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Equitable by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,545,628 shares of the company's stock worth $645,449,000 after buying an additional 2,532,791 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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