California State Teachers Retirement System Has $18.94 Million Stock Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• CalSTRS reduced its Equitable Holdings stake by 5.9% in the first quarter, selling 32,251 shares and retaining 510,346 shares valued at approximately $18.94 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.70% of EQH.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $60.08, although Wolfe Research downgraded the stock to “peer perform.” Equitable recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations.
• Equitable declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, equivalent to $1.20 annually and a 2.5% yield. Insiders have sold 128,503 shares worth about $5.84 million over the past 90 days.

California State Teachers Retirement System decreased its position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 5.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 510,346 shares of the company's stock after selling 32,251 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.18% of Equitable worth $18,939,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EQH. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Equitable during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its position in Equitable by 64.1% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 888 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 124.7% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Equitable by 92.6% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 9,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $391,779.78. The trade was a 39.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.54, for a total value of $1,927,038.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 753,403 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $36,570,181.62. This trade represents a 5.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 128,503 shares of company stock worth $5,840,116 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EQH. Wolfe Research lowered Equitable from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on Equitable and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Equitable from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Equitable from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.08.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of Equitable stock opened at $47.69 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 stock has a market capitalization of $13.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.10. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.19 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $45.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.97.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share 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 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 firm's quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. Equitable's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -42.25%.

About Equitable

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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