Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Stock Position Lifted by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 29.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 187,844 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 42,858 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.06% of Equitable worth $9,785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 33.2% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 799 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Equitable by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 88,561 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,613,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Equitable by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,768 shares of the company's stock valued at $131,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its stake in Equitable by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 4,278 shares of the company's stock valued at $202,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Equitable by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 5,145 shares of the company's stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Equitable from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $62.64.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of EQH stock traded down $1.17 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $54.51. 662,154 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,551,066. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.79 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a current ratio of 0.10. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $53.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.60. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.46 and a 52 week high of $56.61.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $4.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.05 billion. Equitable had a return on equity of 79.05% and a net margin of 8.50%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 105.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.43 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is 29.35%.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In related news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.09, for a total transaction of $212,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 19,827 shares in the company, valued at $1,052,615.43. This represents a 16.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.91, for a total transaction of $264,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 139,073 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,358,352.43. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 117,332 shares of company stock worth $5,993,760. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Equitable Profile

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.