South Dakota Investment Council Buys 58,506 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• South Dakota Investment Council increased its Equitable Holdings stake by 18.3%, purchasing 58,506 shares to hold 377,662 shares valued at approximately $14.0 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.7% of the company.
• Equitable reported quarterly EPS of $1.62, slightly exceeding estimates, while revenue reached $4.23 billion but declined 7.6% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, yielding about 2.5% annually.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $60.08, compared with the reported share price of $48.43. Meanwhile, company insiders have sold 128,503 shares worth approximately $5.84 million over the past 90 days.

South Dakota Investment Council lifted its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 18.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 377,662 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 58,506 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council owned about 0.13% of Equitable worth $14,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Equitable in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in Equitable by 64.1% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 888 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Equitable by 124.7% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Equitable during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Equitable by 92.6% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Equitable Price Performance

Equitable stock opened at $48.43 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $13.22 billion, a PE ratio of -17.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 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. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $44.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.93. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $35.19 and a one year high of $55.24.

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

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. Equitable's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -42.25%.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.54, for a total transaction of $1,927,038.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 753,403 shares in the company, valued at $36,570,181.62. This represents a 5.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.83, for a total value of $259,346.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $391,779.78. This represents a 39.83% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 128,503 shares of company stock worth $5,840,116 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Equitable from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Equitable from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $60.08.

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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