Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Shares Acquired by Pzena Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• Pzena Investment Management increased its Equitable stake by 1.0% in the third quarter, adding 57,189 shares to hold about 5.62 million shares, worth approximately $288.1 million.
• Equitable beat third-quarter expectations, reporting EPS of $2.13 versus estimates of $1.86 and revenue of $3.88 billion versus $3.75 billion; revenue rose 167.7% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: Equitable has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $63.33, while Truist raised its target to $65 and maintained a Buy rating.

Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 1.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,618,993 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 57,189 shares during the quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC owned 2.06% of Equitable worth $288,086,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Equitable during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,369,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 627,169 shares of the company's stock valued at $23,274,000 after buying an additional 104,439 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $874,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,499,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable during the second quarter worth approximately $1,840,000. 92.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In related news, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,780 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.35, for a total value of $151,093.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 23,685 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,287,279.75. This represents a 10.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 14,923 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.24, for a total value of $794,500.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 110,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,856,772.68. This represents a 11.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 23,850 shares of company stock worth $1,270,055 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Equitable News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Equitable this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Truist raised its price target to $65 from $60 and reiterated a Buy rating. The new target implies about 15.7% upside from the cited $56.17 share price, adding to bullish analyst sentiment. Truist raises Equitable price target
• Positive Sentiment: Equitable reported third-quarter EPS of $2.13, ahead of estimates around $1.86–$1.87, and revenue of $3.88 billion versus expectations of $3.75 billion. EPS also rose from $1.48 a year earlier, supporting the case for improving results. Equitable Q3 earnings beat
• Positive Sentiment: The Q3 earnings-call coverage pointed to growth and progress on the company’s merger plans, which may provide investors with additional strategic upside; the supplied reports do not detail the transaction’s terms or expected financial impact. Earnings call highlights

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of EQH opened at $56.17 on Thursday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.19 and a 12 month high of $56.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $53.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.03. The company has a market cap of $15.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.78, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.06.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $3.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.75 billion. Equitable had a net margin of 11.53% and a negative return on equity of 3,089.96%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 167.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.48 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQH has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Equitable in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $66.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Equitable from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $63.33.

Equitable Profile

Equitable Holdings, Inc NYSE: EQH is a financial services company that provides retirement, protection and wealth management solutions to individuals, families and institutions. Its businesses offer life insurance, annuities, investment products, retirement planning and financial advice.

Through Equitable, the company provides life insurance and retirement products, while Equitable Advisors offers financial planning, investment advisory and insurance services through a network of financial professionals.

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