AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Has $30.46 Million Holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• AustralianSuper Pty Ltd cut its stake in Equitable Holdings by 10% in the fourth quarter, selling 70,720 shares and leaving it with 639,240 shares valued at about $30.46 million.
• Equitable reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $1.62 versus estimates of $1.60 and revenue of $4.23 billion versus $3.95 billion expected, despite a year-over-year revenue decline.
• The company also approved a $1 billion share repurchase program, while analysts remain generally positive with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $58.18.

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd trimmed its holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 639,240 shares of the company's stock after selling 70,720 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd owned about 0.22% of Equitable worth $30,460,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of EQH. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 180.7% during the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 32,820 shares of the company's stock worth $1,667,000 after acquiring an additional 21,127 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd boosted its stake in Equitable by 26.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 241,175 shares of the company's stock worth $12,616,000 after purchasing an additional 50,455 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new position in Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,684,000. Korea Investment CORP increased its holdings in Equitable by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 299,391 shares of the company's stock worth $15,203,000 after purchasing an additional 59,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algebris UK Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter. Algebris UK Ltd. now owns 712,460 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,151,000 after purchasing an additional 158,488 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on EQH shares. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Equitable from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Equitable from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.18.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of EQH opened at $42.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $39.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.78. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.19 and a 1-year high of $56.61. The company has a market cap of $11.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.98, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.13.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total transaction of $574,894.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 89,403 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,579,696.12. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total transaction of $404,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 124,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,023,375.92. This represents a 7.45% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 128,116 shares of company stock valued at $5,205,010 over the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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