Empowered Funds LLC Has $492,000 Stock Holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC cut its Equitable Holdings stake by 71.1% in the first quarter, selling 32,655 shares and retaining 13,254 shares worth approximately $492,000. Institutional investors collectively own 92.7% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $61.17. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised its target to $67, while JPMorgan modestly lowered its target to $57.
• Equitable exceeded quarterly earnings expectations with EPS of $1.70 versus $1.65 forecast, but revenue fell 29.8% year over year to $1.66 billion, far below estimates. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.30, while substantial insider selling adds a potential confidence concern.

Empowered Funds LLC decreased its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 71.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,254 shares of the company's stock after selling 32,655 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Equitable were worth $492,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Equitable by 124.7% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Equitable in the third quarter worth $38,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Equitable by 92.6% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 64.1% during the first 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. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Equitable from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $62.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Equitable from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price target on shares of Equitable and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.17.

Key Stories Impacting Equitable

Here are the key news stories impacting Equitable this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised its price target to $67 from $62 and maintained an “outperform” rating. The new target implies substantial upside and reinforces favorable sell-side sentiment toward EQH. Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: Buybacks, capital returns and the Corebridge merger support the longer-term investment case. An analysis cited approximately $1.8 billion in expected 2026 cash generation, at least $4.30 per share in capital returns and buybacks that could reduce the share count by about 8%. The merger is projected to generate roughly $550 million in cost synergies and approximately 10% EPS accretion by 2027. Equitable Holdings: Buybacks And Credit Resilience Make Shares Attractive
• Positive Sentiment: Recent quarterly earnings exceeded expectations. EQH reported $1.70 in earnings per share versus a $1.65 consensus estimate, up from $1.10 a year earlier. However, the earnings beat was accompanied by a sharp revenue decline.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are awaiting further detail from the second-quarter earnings discussion. Coverage focused on merger momentum, organic growth, strategic divestitures and analyst questions from the earnings call, all of which may shape expectations for future growth. EQH Q2 Deep Dive
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple insiders sold shares. Director Craig C. Mackay sold 2,200 shares, while directors Bertram Scott and Charles Stonehill sold 1,466 and 7,500 shares, respectively. Chief Accounting Officer William Eckert also sold 947 shares. Recent data shows 34 insider sales and no insider purchases over six months, which may weigh on investor confidence. EQH Insider Trading Activity
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue remains a concern. Quarterly revenue fell 29.8% year over year to $1.66 billion, well below the $3.84 billion analyst estimate, potentially limiting the impact of the earnings beat.

Equitable Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $51.27 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $13.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50 day moving average of $46.41 and a 200-day moving average of $43.13. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $35.19 and a one year high of $55.24.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.05. Equitable had a negative net margin of 8.72% and a positive return on equity of 511.35%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. Equitable's revenue was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is -36.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 transaction of $1,927,038.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 753,403 shares of the company's stock, valued at $36,570,181.62. The trade was a 5.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were 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 owned 74,748 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,371,882.28. This represents a 16.11% 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. Insiders sold 140,616 shares of company stock worth $6,464,743 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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