Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Sets New 52-Week High - Time to Buy?

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $56.16 and last traded at $55.99, with a volume of 745116 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $54.41.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Equitable from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equitable has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $62.64.

Equitable Trading Down 0.1%

The company has a market cap of $17.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.52 and a beta of 1.15. The company's fifty day moving average price is $52.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39.

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

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a positive change from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Equitable's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.35%.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In related news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.57, for a total value of $317,101.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 101,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,835,300.22. This trade represents a 6.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.56, for a total transaction of $1,426,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 743,206 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,346,877.36. This represents a 3.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 117,332 shares of company stock valued at $5,993,760 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,939,000. APG Asset Management N.V. acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,512,000. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Equitable in the first quarter valued at approximately $338,000. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Equitable by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 513,391 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,217,000 after acquiring an additional 60,643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Equitable in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,333,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company's stock.

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.