Pzena Investment Management LLC Acquires 138,999 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• Pzena Investment Management increased its stake in Equitable Holdings by 3.2% in Q1, buying 138,999 shares and bringing its total position to 4.46 million shares worth about $165.7 million.
• Several other institutional investors also added to EQH, and institutions now own 92.7% of the company, underscoring heavy institutional interest in the stock.
• Equitable reported better-than-expected quarterly results with EPS of $1.62 versus $1.60 expected and revenue of $4.23 billion versus $3.95 billion expected, while also raising its quarterly dividend to $0.30 from $0.27.

Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 3.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,464,347 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 138,999 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC owned approximately 1.59% of Equitable worth $165,672,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Equitable during the fourth quarter worth about $550,995,000. Capital International Investors grew its position in Equitable by 49.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company's stock worth $559,232,000 after acquiring an additional 3,645,301 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in Equitable by 7,955.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,424,823 shares of the company's stock valued at $116,585,000 after purchasing an additional 2,394,721 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 114.8% during the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company's stock worth $204,640,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, London Co. of Virginia increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 4,141.8% in the third quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 1,235,243 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,726,000 after buying an additional 1,206,122 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Equitable in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price target on Equitable and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $58.64.

Equitable Trading Up 0.5%

EQH stock opened at $44.10 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $12.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.10. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $42.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.01.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.30 dividend. This is a positive change from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is presently -42.25%.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In related news, insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total value of $187,501.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 124,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,273,054.10. The trade was a 3.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total value of $647,689.38. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 74,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,371,882.28. This trade represents a 16.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 216,919 shares of company stock worth $9,118,088. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

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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