Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 46,106 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• Bank of New York Mellon trimmed its Equitable Holdings stake by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 46,106 shares but still holding about 2.94 million shares valued at roughly $140.3 million.
• Several analysts remain positive on EQH, with the stock carrying a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $58.18 after recent upgrades and raised targets from firms including Raymond James, Mizuho, JPMorgan, and KBW.
• Equitable recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.30 per share from $0.27 and continues a $1 billion share buyback program, while its latest earnings beat estimates on revenue and EPS.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp decreased its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,943,674 shares of the company's stock after selling 46,106 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 1.03% of Equitable worth $140,266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AXQ Capital LP lifted its position in Equitable by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 34,662 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 5,871 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Equitable during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $550,995,000. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new stake in Equitable during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,060,000. National Pension Service increased its holdings in Equitable by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 558,782 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,626,000 after buying an additional 58,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Equitable by 301.2% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 146,829 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,996,000 after buying an additional 110,235 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Equitable and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Equitable from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.18.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.44, for a total value of $609,353.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 79,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,369,863.32. This trade represents a 15.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total transaction of $187,501.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 124,218 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,273,054.10. This trade represents a 3.43% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 156,661 shares of company stock worth $6,413,437. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Equitable Price Performance

EQH stock opened at $40.86 on Friday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.19 and a 52 week high of $56.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.10.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. Equitable's quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This is a boost from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Equitable's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -42.25%.

Equitable declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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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