Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Holdings Trimmed by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group trimmed its position in Equitable by 3.4% in Q4 and now owns 2,059,390 shares (about 0.72%) valued at roughly $98.13 million.
• Insiders sold a total of 128,116 shares worth about $5.21 million in the past three months, including CEO Mark Pearson and COO Jeffrey Hurd, with both trades executed under pre‑arranged Rule 10b5‑1 plans.
• Equitable authorized a $1.0 billion share buyback (up to 7.7% of shares) and reported Q1 EPS of $1.62 beating estimates while revenue of $4.23 billion also beat expectations though was down 7.6% YoY; analysts' consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $57.82.

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,059,390 shares of the company's stock after selling 71,643 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.72% of Equitable worth $98,131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Equitable in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Equitable during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Equitable in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 92.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable during the 4th quarter valued at $81,000. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.58, for a total value of $582,647.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 84,403 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,425,073.74. The trade was a 14.54% decrease in their position. 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, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total transaction of $1,652,711.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 789,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,853,688.29. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their position. 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 sold a total of 128,116 shares of company stock worth $5,205,010 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on EQH shares. UBS Group cut their target price on Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Equitable from $65.00 to $58.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Equitable from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Evercore set a $63.00 target price on shares of Equitable and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.82.

Equitable Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $43.80 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $39.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.19 and a 12-month high of $56.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.13.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. The business 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%.Equitable's quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.35 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Equitable's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -22.41%.

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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