Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt Acquires 26,300 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. by 20.7%, acquiring an additional 26,300 shares and owning about $8.6 million of the company's stock.
• Several analysts have set new price targets for Equitable, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. raising their target from $55.00 to $65.00 and giving the stock a "neutral" rating, while others have rated it "strong-buy."
• Equitable announced a quarterly dividend of $0.27, representing an annualized dividend of $1.08 and a yield of 2.0% for stockholders of record.

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 20.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 153,400 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 26,300 shares during the quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt owned about 0.05% of Equitable worth $8,606,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Equitable during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Equitable during the first quarter worth about $33,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Equitable by 92.6% during 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 during the period. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 154.3% during the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQH has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Equitable to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Equitable from $66.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Equitable from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Equitable from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $64.55.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,790 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.69, for a total transaction of $364,555.10. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 81,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,396,566.72. The trade was a 7.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,551 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.22, for a total value of $2,144,455.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 690,678 shares in the company, valued at $37,448,561.16. The trade was a 5.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 155,580 shares of company stock valued at $8,258,518. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Equitable Stock Performance

NYSE EQH traded down $0.15 on Monday, hitting $54.08. 2,984,904 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,836,809. The business's 50 day moving average price is $52.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.08. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.81 and a 52-week high of $56.61. The company has a market capitalization of $16.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.61 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 5th. Equitable's payout ratio is 87.10%.

About Equitable

Equitable Holdings, Inc, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Investment Management and Research, Protection Solutions, Wealth Management, and Legacy.