Toronto Dominion Bank Grows Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 87.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 84,148 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 39,354 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank's holdings in Equitable were worth $3,969,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of EQH. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Equitable by 111.2% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 678 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Equitable by 33.2% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 799 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. Mizuho Bank Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 61.4% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. now owns 1,130 shares of the company's stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in Equitable by 298.3% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,689 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,265 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Equitable by 31.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on EQH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Equitable from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Equitable from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Equitable from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group dropped their price target on Equitable from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.67.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.16, for a total transaction of $1,534,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 753,206 shares in the company, valued at $38,534,018.96. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.12, for a total transaction of $255,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 139,073 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,109,411.76. This trade represents a 3.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 118,332 shares of company stock worth $5,976,400 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Equitable Trading Up 3.7%

NYSE EQH traded up $1.90 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $53.70. 750,127 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,583,441. The firm has a market cap of $16.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.06 and a beta of 1.15. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.46 and a fifty-two week high of $56.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $50.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.25.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. Equitable had a net margin of 10.51% and a return on equity of 85.70%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 105.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a positive change from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. Equitable's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.35%.

Equitable Profile

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.