Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Sells 15,531 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reduced its stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. by 0.7%, now holding approximately 2.33 million shares valued at $121.31 million.
• Multiple institutional investors have altered their positions in Equitable, with hedge funds owning 92.70% of the company’s stock.
• Equitable recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 2.0%.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reduced its stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 0.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,328,989 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,531 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned about 0.77% of Equitable worth $121,317,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equitable in the first quarter worth $26,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Equitable during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable during the first quarter worth about $33,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 154.3% in the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the company's stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in Equitable during the 1st quarter valued at about $80,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on EQH. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Equitable from $66.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Equitable from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Equitable to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Equitable from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $64.55.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of Equitable stock traded up $0.68 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $53.48. 337,397 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,784,118. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.81 and a 1 year high of $56.61. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.13 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94, a current ratio of 0.14 and a quick ratio of 0.14.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 4,000 shares of the business'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 approximately $1,052,615.43. The trade was a 16.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.86, for a total value of $134,836.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 26,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,348,411.86. This trade represents a 9.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 113,090 shares of company stock worth $5,953,752 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.