Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Purchases 60,625 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management increased its stake in Equitable Holdings by 437.5% in Q1, buying 60,625 additional shares and bringing its total to 74,483 shares worth about $2.76 million.
• Other large institutions have also been adding to EQH, and 92.7% of the stock is owned by institutional investors, signaling strong professional interest in the company.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on Equitable, with analysts issuing mostly Buy/Strong Buy ratings and a consensus price target of $58.64, well above the recent opening price of $43.88.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 437.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,483 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 60,625 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Equitable were worth $2,764,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EQH. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Equitable during the 4th quarter worth approximately $550,995,000. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 49.5% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company's stock valued at $559,232,000 after purchasing an additional 3,645,301 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 7,955.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,424,823 shares of the company's stock valued at $116,585,000 after purchasing an additional 2,394,721 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 114.8% during the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company's stock valued at $204,640,000 after buying an additional 2,294,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, London Co. of Virginia boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 4,141.8% during the third quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 1,235,243 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,726,000 after buying an additional 1,206,122 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on EQH. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price target on shares of Equitable and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Equitable and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $58.64.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $43.88 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.04. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.19 and a 1-year high of $56.53. The firm has a market cap of $11.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion for 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 was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is an increase from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Equitable's payout ratio is presently -42.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.83, for a total transaction of $259,346.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $391,779.78. This represents a 39.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was 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 approximately $34,680,087.84. This trade represents 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 216,919 shares of company stock valued at $9,118,088. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Equitable 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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