Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lowered its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 93.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,116 shares of the company's stock after selling 227,047 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.'s holdings in Equitable were worth $713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. increased 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 acquiring an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased 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 acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. increased 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 acquiring an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in Equitable by 298.3% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,689 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Equitable by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Equitable Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:EQH traded down $0.28 on Friday, reaching $51.85. 1,188,498 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,591,185. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $50.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.21. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.46 and a 52 week high of $56.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.57 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $4.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.05 billion. Equitable had a return on equity of 85.70% and a net margin of 10.51%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 105.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a positive change from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.09%.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.57, for a total value of $317,101.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 101,646 shares in the company, valued at $4,835,300.22. This trade represents a 6.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.90, for a total transaction of $1,587,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 733,206 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,786,597.40. This trade represents a 3.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 118,332 shares of company stock worth $5,976,400. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Evercore ISI reduced 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Equitable from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equitable presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.83.

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.