Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Stake Boosted by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 29.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm 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 approximately 0.06% of Equitable worth $9,785,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Equitable in the first quarter worth $26,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in Equitable by 111.2% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 678 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Equitable by 33.2% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 799 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. lifted its stake in Equitable by 61.4% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. now owns 1,130 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its stake in Equitable by 154.3% in the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on EQH shares. UBS Group cut their target price on Equitable from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Equitable from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on 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. raised their target price on Equitable from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Equitable from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $62.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.91, for a total value of $352,698.06. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 94,980 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,025,391.80. The trade was a 6.56% 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 this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.18, for a total transaction of $1,595,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 724,367 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,521,837.06. This trade represents a 3.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 117,332 shares of company stock valued at $5,993,760 in the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EQH traded down $1.05 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $54.62. 2,405,237 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,557,822. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.46 and a 52 week high of $56.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $53.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.10. The company has a market cap of $16.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.84 and a beta of 1.15.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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). Equitable had a return on equity of 79.05% and a net margin of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.43 earnings per share. Equitable's revenue was up 105.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. 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%. Equitable's payout ratio is 29.35%.

Equitable Company 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.