Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Given New $65.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) had its target price lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on EQH. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Equitable from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Equitable from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $64.09.

Equitable Stock Performance

NYSE:EQH traded up $0.57 on Tuesday, reaching $53.75. 2,221,459 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,563,581. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market cap of $16.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.61 and a beta of 1.15. Equitable has a 52 week low of $36.46 and a 52 week high of $56.61. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.69.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.14). Equitable had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 79.05%. The firm had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.43 earnings per share. Equitable's revenue was up 105.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Equitable will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. This is a positive change from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. Equitable's payout ratio is presently 29.35%.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.91, for a total transaction of $352,698.06. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 94,980 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,025,391.80. This trade represents a 6.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 4,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.09, for a total transaction of $212,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 19,827 shares in the company, valued at $1,052,615.43. This trade represents a 16.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 117,332 shares of company stock valued at $5,993,760. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,278,436 shares of the company's stock worth $1,003,705,000 after acquiring an additional 535,671 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 19,032,270 shares of the company's stock worth $897,752,000 after acquiring an additional 79,999 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the fourth quarter worth approximately $668,250,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 23.4% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,878,516 shares of the company's stock worth $566,662,000 after acquiring an additional 2,061,496 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,089,046 shares of the company's stock worth $381,560,000 after acquiring an additional 355,078 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equitable Company Profile

Equitable Holdings, Inc, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Investment Management and Research, Protection Solutions, Wealth Management, and Legacy.