AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Buys 369,876 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 97.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 748,829 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 369,876 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd owned 0.24% of Equitable worth $39,007,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Equitable during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Equitable by 111.2% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 678 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. increased its position in Equitable by 61.4% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. now owns 1,130 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its position in Equitable by 154.3% during the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in Equitable during the 1st quarter valued at about $80,000. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on EQH shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Equitable from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group lowered their price target on Equitable from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $68.00 price target (up previously from $67.00) on shares of Equitable in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $66.00 price target (up previously from $61.00) on shares of Equitable in a report on Thursday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $64.18.

Equitable Stock Performance

EQH stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $52.90. The company had a trading volume of 1,627,109 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,543,694. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $53.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $51.95. The firm has a market cap of $16.08 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38 and a beta of 1.15. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.46 and a 1-year high of $56.61.

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). 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 105.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. This is a boost from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. Equitable's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.35%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 4,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.09, for a total transaction of $212,360.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 19,827 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,052,615.43. The trade was a 16.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.91, for a total transaction of $264,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 139,073 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,358,352.43. This represents a 3.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,666 shares of company stock worth $7,145,208. Company insiders own 1.10% 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.

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