Capital International Investors Purchases 2,532,791 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• Capital International Investors increased its stake in Equitable Holdings by 23% in the fourth quarter, buying 2,532,791 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 13.5 million shares, or about 4.73% of the company.
• Equitable recently reported quarterly earnings of $1.62 per share, topping estimates, and revenue of $4.23 billion, while also boosting its quarterly dividend to $0.30 per share from $0.27.
• The company’s board also authorized a $1 billion share repurchase program, even as several insiders sold shares and analysts maintained a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with a target price of $58.18.

Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 23.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,545,628 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,532,791 shares during the period. Capital International Investors owned about 4.73% of Equitable worth $645,449,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Equitable during the fourth quarter worth about $550,995,000. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 0.3% in the third quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,867,643 shares of the company's stock worth $247,179,000 after acquiring an additional 12,370 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,822,908 shares of the company's stock worth $229,812,000 after acquiring an additional 193,640 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 4,325,348 shares of the company's stock worth $206,103,000 after acquiring an additional 28,340 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 114.8% in the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company's stock worth $204,640,000 after acquiring an additional 2,294,902 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on EQH. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Equitable in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price objective on Equitable and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $58.18.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $40.86 on Monday. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.19 and a twelve month high of $56.61. The stock's 50 day moving average is $40.65 and its 200-day moving average is $43.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.39, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.11.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.The company had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. Equitable's revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. This is an increase from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is currently -42.25%.

Equitable declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In related news, insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,273,054.10. This represents a 3.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,470 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total value of $101,467.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 27,931 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,147,405.48. This trade represents a 8.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 156,661 shares of company stock valued at $6,413,437 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

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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