Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Shares Sold by BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S

Key Points

• BI Asset Management cut its Equitable Holdings stake by 92.9% in the fourth quarter, leaving it with 12,147 shares worth about $579,000.
• Insider selling continued, with CEO Mark Pearson and CAO William James Iv Eckert both selling shares; insiders have sold 162,861 shares worth $6.67 million over the past 90 days.
• Equitable posted solid quarterly results, beating earnings and revenue estimates, while also announcing a $1 billion share buyback plan and a higher quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share.

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S decreased its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 92.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 12,147 shares of the company's stock after selling 158,139 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in Equitable were worth $579,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of EQH. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the 4th quarter worth approximately $550,995,000. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Equitable by 49.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company's stock valued at $559,232,000 after buying an additional 3,645,301 shares during the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Equitable by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,867,643 shares of the company's stock valued at $247,179,000 after buying an additional 12,370 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Equitable by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,822,908 shares of the company's stock valued at $229,812,000 after buying an additional 193,640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Equitable by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 4,325,348 shares of the company's stock valued at $206,103,000 after buying an additional 28,340 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In related news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $310,104.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 15,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $658,694.88. This trade represents a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total value of $1,652,711.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 789,183 shares in the company, valued at $32,853,688.29. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 162,861 shares of company stock worth $6,672,783 over the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on EQH. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 target price on Equitable and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays increased their target price on Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Equitable from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Two equities research 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 MarketBeat, Equitable presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $58.18.

Equitable Price Performance

EQH opened at $41.85 on Thursday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $40.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.19 and a 1 year high of $56.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.78 billion, a PE ratio of -14.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.10.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. Equitable's revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Equitable declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 11th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This is an increase from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Equitable's payout ratio is -42.25%.

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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