Norges Bank Makes New Investment in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• Norges Bank disclosed a new position in Equitable Holdings, buying 11.56 million shares worth about $551 million and owning roughly 4.04% of the company.
• Equitable’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $1.62 and revenue of $4.23 billion, both above analyst estimates despite year-over-year revenue declining 7.6%.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.30 per share and authorized a $1 billion stock buyback, signaling confidence in the stock’s value.

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 11,563,370 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $550,995,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 4.04% of Equitable as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of EQH. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 124.7% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 92.6% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable in the fourth quarter valued at $81,000. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Equitable from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Equitable from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $58.18.

Equitable Stock Up 0.0%

EQH opened at $41.35 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.38. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.19 and a 12 month high of $56.61.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This is a positive change from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Equitable's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -38.03%.

Equitable announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other news, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total value of $404,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 124,218 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,023,375.92. This trade represents a 7.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 firm'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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $658,694.88. This represents a 32.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 154,191 shares of company stock valued at $6,311,969. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Equitable

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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