Hsbc Holdings PLC Has $39.55 Million Stock Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• HSBC Holdings PLC reduced its stake in Equitable Holdings by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 63,017 shares and leaving it with 826,042 shares worth about $39.6 million.
• Equitable reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $1.62 versus a $1.60 estimate and revenue of $4.23 billion versus $3.95 billion expected.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.30 per share from $0.27, while analysts overall still rate the stock Moderate Buy with an average price target of $58.64.

Hsbc Holdings PLC lowered its position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 826,042 shares of the company's stock after selling 63,017 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 0.29% of Equitable worth $39,551,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,726 shares of the company's stock valued at $130,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Equitable by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,999 shares of the company's stock worth $143,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in Equitable by 11.7% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,634 shares of the company's stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Equitable by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,882 shares of the company's stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Equitable by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 25,926 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,235,000 after buying an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Equitable in a report on Friday, May 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Equitable from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.64.

Equitable Trading Up 4.1%

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $47.48 on Tuesday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.19 and a 1-year high of $56.04. The company has a 50-day moving average of $42.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.96. The company has a market cap of $12.96 billion, a PE ratio of -16.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.30 dividend. This is an increase from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. Equitable's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -42.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other Equitable news, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total transaction of $404,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 124,218 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,023,375.92. The trade was a 7.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $310,104.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 15,506 shares of the company's stock, valued at $658,694.88. The trade was a 32.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 216,919 shares of company stock valued at $9,118,088. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Equitable Company Profile

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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