Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Lowers Stock Holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its holdings in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,243,570 shares of the company's stock after selling 47,762 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 1.38% of Equitable worth $221,048,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EQH. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Equitable during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Equitable by 111.2% during the 4th 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 period. Mizuho Bank Ltd. boosted its holdings in Equitable by 61.4% during the 4th 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 period. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its holdings in Equitable by 154.3% during the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares during the period. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in Equitable during the 1st quarter valued at about $80,000. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 4,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.09, for a total transaction of $212,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 19,827 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,052,615.43. The trade was a 16.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.22, for a total value of $1,566,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 714,367 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,304,244.74. This trade represents a 4.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,666 shares of company stock worth $7,145,208. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on EQH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $68.00 price objective (up previously from $67.00) on shares of Equitable in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $66.00 price objective (up previously from $61.00) on shares of Equitable in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Equitable from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Equitable from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $64.18.

Equitable Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE EQH traded up $0.87 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $52.59. 1,584,160 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,544,349. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.10. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $56.61. The company has a market cap of $15.98 billion, a PE ratio of 14.28 and a beta of 1.15. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $53.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.87.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 return on equity of 79.05% and a net margin of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $4.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.43 EPS. Equitable's revenue was up 105.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a positive change from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. 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.