Poplar Forest Capital LLC Has $27.44 Million Stock Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Poplar Forest Capital LLC cut its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 22.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 526,779 shares of the company's stock after selling 148,852 shares during the quarter. Equitable comprises 4.9% of Poplar Forest Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Poplar Forest Capital LLC owned approximately 0.17% of Equitable worth $27,440,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Equitable by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,278,436 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,003,705,000 after buying an additional 535,671 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Equitable by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 19,032,270 shares of the company's stock worth $897,752,000 after purchasing an additional 79,999 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Equitable during the 4th quarter valued at $668,250,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Equitable by 59.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,817,020 shares of the company's stock valued at $415,899,000 after buying an additional 3,303,449 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Equitable by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,089,046 shares of the company's stock valued at $381,560,000 after buying an additional 355,078 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other news, insider Nick Lane sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.91, for a total value of $264,550.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 139,073 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,358,352.43. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.22, for a total transaction of $1,566,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 714,367 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,304,244.74. This represents a 4.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,666 shares of company stock worth $7,145,208 in the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Equitable Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of EQH stock traded up $0.52 on Friday, hitting $52.58. The stock had a trading volume of 1,794,274 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,281,680. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $56.61. The firm has a market cap of $15.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.29 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $53.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.09.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. Equitable had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 79.05%. Equitable's quarterly revenue was up 105.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.43 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Equitable from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $68.00 target price (up from $67.00) on shares of Equitable in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Equitable from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $66.00 target price (up from $61.00) on shares of Equitable in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.30.

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.