Raymond James Financial Inc. Increases Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in Equitable Holdings, owning approximately $40 million worth of stock after acquiring additional shares in the first quarter.
• Equitable's stock has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with a consensus price target of $64.90.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.0%.

Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 21.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 767,829 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 133,127 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.25% of Equitable worth $39,996,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mariner LLC raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 19,421 shares of the company's stock valued at $916,000 after buying an additional 854 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the 4th quarter valued at about $521,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 194.3% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 24,853 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,172,000 after buying an additional 16,407 shares during the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 123,022 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,803,000 after buying an additional 25,752 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 125,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,896,000 after buying an additional 25,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on EQH. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Equitable from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Equitable from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Equitable from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Equitable from $66.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $64.90.

Equitable Price Performance

EQH stock traded down $0.7150 during trading on Monday, hitting $52.8750. The stock had a trading volume of 2,228,536 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,087,900. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94, a current ratio of 0.14 and a quick ratio of 0.14. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.99 and a twelve month high of $56.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.64 and a beta of 1.14. The company's 50-day moving average price is $53.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.11.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 5th. Equitable's payout ratio is currently 87.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.86, for a total transaction of $134,836.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 26,001 shares in the company, valued at $1,348,411.86. The trade was a 9.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.09, for a total value of $212,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 19,827 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,052,615.43. This represents a 16.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 143,090 shares of company stock valued at $7,549,152. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.