Empowered Funds LLC Invests $874,000 in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC initiated a position in Equitable Holdings worth approximately $874,000, while institutional investors collectively own 92.7% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $61.75, despite one recent downgrade to “sell.”
• Equitable exceeded quarterly EPS expectations, reporting $1.70 versus the $1.65 consensus, but revenue fell 29.8% year over year. The company maintains a $0.30 quarterly dividend, representing a 2.3% annualized yield.

Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 19,909 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $874,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in EQH. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Equitable by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 627,169 shares of the company's stock worth $23,274,000 after acquiring an additional 104,439 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Equitable by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 311,976 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,965,000 after buying an additional 36,135 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Equitable during the fourth quarter valued at $550,995,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 114.8% during the 4th quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company's stock worth $204,640,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294,902 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Equitable by 301.2% in the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 146,829 shares of the company's stock worth $6,996,000 after acquiring an additional 110,235 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO William Eckert, IV sold 947 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.88, for a total value of $50,077.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at $445,196.72. The trade was a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles Stonehill sold 7,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $386,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 34,357 shares in the company, valued at $1,770,759.78. This represents a 17.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 113,071 shares of company stock valued at $5,309,147. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQH has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group raised their target price on Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Equitable from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Equitable from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $66.00 price objective on shares of Equitable in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.75.

Equitable Trading Down 1.3%

NYSE:EQH opened at $52.85 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.97, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.10. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.19 and a 1 year high of $55.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $49.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 0.15.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $3.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 29.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is currently -36.25%.

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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