Swedbank AB Sells 212,791 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Key Points

• Swedbank AB cut its Equitable Holdings stake by 29.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 212,791 shares and ending with 509,896 shares valued at about $24.3 million.
• Insiders also reduced holdings, with CAO William James Iv Eckert and insider Nick Lane among recent sellers; insiders sold a total of 154,191 shares worth about $6.3 million over the last 90 days.
• Equitable reported solid quarterly results and boosted its dividend, beating EPS and revenue expectations, authorizing a $1 billion share repurchase plan, and raising its quarterly dividend to $0.30 per share.

Swedbank AB decreased its position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 29.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 509,896 shares of the company's stock after selling 212,791 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned about 0.18% of Equitable worth $24,297,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Equitable during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equitable during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 124.7% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Equitable during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Equitable by 92.6% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $310,104.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 15,506 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $658,694.88. The trade was a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total value of $404,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 124,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,023,375.92. This represents a 7.45% decrease in their position. 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 sold a total of 154,191 shares of company stock worth $6,311,969 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Equitable Stock Up 0.0%

EQH stock opened at $42.60 on Tuesday. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $40.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.19 and a 1-year high of $56.61. The stock has a market cap of $11.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.13.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.The business had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.08 EPS for the current year.

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

Equitable Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EQH. UBS Group decreased their price target on Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price target on Equitable and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Equitable from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Equitable from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $58.18.

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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