Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Cuts Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 93.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,116 shares of the company's stock after selling 227,047 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.'s holdings in Equitable were worth $713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 111.2% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 678 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Equitable by 33.2% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 799 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Mizuho Bank Ltd. grew its position in Equitable by 61.4% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. now owns 1,130 shares of the company's stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 31.5% during the 4th 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 period. 92.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EQH. UBS Group upgraded Equitable from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $49.00 to $77.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Equitable from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.83.

Equitable Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of EQH traded up $0.58 on Thursday, hitting $52.42. 910,189 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,913,625. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.46 and a 1 year high of $56.00. The stock's 50 day moving average is $50.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.73 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.14). Equitable had a net margin of 10.51% and a return on equity of 85.70%. The business had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.43 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 105.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 will be paid on Monday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. This is a positive change from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Equitable's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other news, insider Nick Lane sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.12, for a total transaction of $255,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 139,073 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,109,411.76. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.56, for a total value of $1,426,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 743,206 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,346,877.36. The trade was a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 118,332 shares of company stock worth $5,976,400 in the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.