Swedbank AB Has $24.30 Million Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• Swedbank AB cut its stake in Equitable Holdings by 29.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 212,791 shares and ending with 509,896 shares worth about $24.3 million.
• Insiders have also been selling, including CEO Mark Pearson and insider Nick Lane; over the last 90 days, company insiders sold 128,116 shares worth about $5.2 million.
• Equitable beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $1.62 EPS on $4.23 billion in revenue, while analysts currently view the stock as a Moderate Buy with an average target price of $58.09.

Swedbank AB reduced its holdings in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 29.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 509,896 shares of the company's stock after selling 212,791 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned about 0.18% of Equitable worth $24,297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in Equitable in the second quarter valued at about $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new position in Equitable in the second quarter valued at about $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in Equitable by 1,126.5% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,126 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,332,000 after buying an additional 267,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Equitable by 45.8% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 626,017 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,120,000 after buying an additional 196,729 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total value of $1,652,711.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 789,183 shares in the company, valued at $32,853,688.29. This represents a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total transaction of $404,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 124,218 shares in the company, valued at $5,023,375.92. This represents a 7.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 128,116 shares of company stock worth $5,205,010 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of Equitable from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. 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. Evercore set a $63.00 price target on shares of Equitable and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Equitable from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $58.09.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of EQH stock opened at $42.61 on Friday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.19 and a 1 year high of $56.61. The firm's 50 day moving average is $39.49 and its 200-day moving average is $44.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.00, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. Equitable's quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. 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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