Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Acquires 66,009 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• Pictet Asset Management increased its stake in Equitable Holdings by 24.4% in the first quarter, buying 66,009 additional shares and bringing its total to 336,272 shares worth about $12.47 million.
• Several other large institutional investors also raised or initiated positions in EQH, and hedge funds now own 92.7% of the company’s shares.
• Equitable reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped analyst expectations, and it also raised its quarterly dividend from $0.27 to $0.30 per share.

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 24.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 336,272 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 66,009 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned about 0.12% of Equitable worth $12,473,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Equitable by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,258,124 shares of the company's stock valued at $822,351,000 after buying an additional 1,132,861 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Equitable by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,545,628 shares of the company's stock worth $645,449,000 after acquiring an additional 2,532,791 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable in the fourth quarter worth $550,995,000. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,889,730 shares of the company's stock valued at $232,996,000 after acquiring an additional 22,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,822,908 shares of the company's stock valued at $229,812,000 after acquiring an additional 193,640 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EQH. Evercore set a $63.00 price target on shares of Equitable and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Barclays raised 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. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Equitable from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $58.64.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other Equitable news, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.44, for a total transaction of $609,353.52. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 79,403 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,369,863.32. This represents a 15.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 216,919 shares of company stock valued at $9,118,088 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Equitable Trading Up 3.5%

Equitable stock opened at $45.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $35.19 and a one year high of $56.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.44 billion, a PE ratio of -16.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.10. The business's fifty day moving average is $42.69 and its 200 day moving average is $42.99.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.Equitable's revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This is a positive change from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is presently -42.25%.

Equitable 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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