Pzena Investment Management LLC Buys 28,340 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• Pzena Investment Management increased its stake in Equitable Holdings by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, buying 28,340 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 4.33 million shares worth about $206.1 million.
• Insider selling was notable, with COO Jeffrey J. Hurd and CAO William James Iv Eckert both selling shares in May; insiders have sold 154,191 shares over the last 90 days.
• Equitable raised its quarterly dividend 11.1% to $0.30 per share and also has a $1 billion share repurchase authorization in place, while analysts currently rate the stock a “Moderate Buy” with a consensus target price of $58.18.

Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,325,348 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 28,340 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC owned approximately 1.51% of Equitable worth $206,103,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Equitable by 49.5% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company's stock valued at $559,232,000 after purchasing an additional 3,645,301 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Equitable by 0.3% in the third quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,867,643 shares of the company's stock valued at $247,179,000 after purchasing an additional 12,370 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Equitable by 4.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 193,640 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Equitable by 114.8% in the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company's stock valued at $204,640,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294,902 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Equitable by 2.0% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,637,414 shares of the company's stock valued at $184,704,000 after purchasing an additional 72,267 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.44, for a total value of $609,353.52. Following the completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 company'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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,506 shares of the company's stock, valued at $658,694.88. This trade represents a 32.01% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 154,191 shares of company stock worth $6,311,969 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EQH has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Equitable and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equitable currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $58.18.

Key Equitable News

Here are the key news stories impacting Equitable this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Equitable raised its quarterly dividend 11.1% to $0.30 per share, reinforcing confidence in cash generation and returning more capital to shareholders. Equitable Holdings Increases Common Stock Dividend and Declares Preferred Stock Dividends
• Positive Sentiment: A Zacks item said the dividend hike reflects strong cash flow growth and continued advancement of the Corebridge Financial merger, which could improve long-term earnings power if integration goes well. Equitable Holdings Raises Dividend 11% Amid Strong Cash Flow Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Director Francis Hondal disclosed multiple small open-market stock purchases over time, which may be interpreted as insider confidence in the company’s outlook.
• Neutral Sentiment: A Seeking Alpha article labeled EQH a “Hold,” suggesting some investors still see the stock as more of a steady-value/transition story than a clear breakout name. Equitable Holdings Is A Hold, Expecting Successful Integration With Corebridge After Merger

Equitable Price Performance

EQH stock opened at $42.59 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 $56.61. The stock has a market cap of $11.99 billion, a PE ratio of -14.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.56.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This is a positive change from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is currently -38.03%.

Equitable Company 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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