Bank of Nova Scotia Sells 24,579 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia cut its Equitable Holdings stake by 54.6% in the first quarter, selling 24,579 shares and retaining 20,428 shares valued at approximately $758,000. Institutional investors overall own 92.7% of EQH.
• Equitable reported quarterly EPS of $1.62, exceeding estimates of $1.60, while revenue reached $4.23 billion but fell 7.6% year over year. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, yielding about 2.5% annually.
• Analysts maintain a favorable outlook, with the stock receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $60.08, versus a recent price of $48.43. Meanwhile, company insiders sold 128,503 shares worth $5.84 million over the past 90 days.

Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 54.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,428 shares of the company's stock after selling 24,579 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in Equitable were worth $758,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Equitable during the 4th quarter worth approximately $550,995,000. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,545,628 shares of the company's stock valued at $645,449,000 after purchasing an additional 2,532,791 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 7,955.4% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased 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 worth $204,640,000 after buying an additional 2,294,902 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Equitable by 337.4% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,502,360 shares of the company's stock worth $76,290,000 after buying an additional 1,158,890 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equitable Stock Down 1.9%

Equitable stock opened at $48.43 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.22 billion, a PE ratio of -17.05, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.10. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.19 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The firm's fifty day moving average is $44.89 and its 200 day moving average is $42.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $3.95 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is -42.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total value of $647,689.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 74,748 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,371,882.28. The trade was a 16.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.83, for a total value of $259,346.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at $391,779.78. The trade was a 39.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 128,503 shares of company stock worth $5,840,116 over the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings raised Equitable from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on Equitable and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 target price on Equitable and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $60.08.

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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