Vest Financial LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Vest Financial LLC cut its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 69.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 227,735 shares of the company's stock after selling 524,356 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC owned about 0.07% of Equitable worth $11,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. grew its holdings in Equitable by 61.4% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. now owns 1,130 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its holdings in Equitable by 154.3% in the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the company's stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the company's stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Equitable from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Equitable from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Equitable from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Equitable from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.67.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of EQH traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $54.67. 2,070,724 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,550,264. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.46 and a 12 month high of $56.00. The stock has a market cap of $16.61 billion, a PE ratio of 14.31 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $50.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.70.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $4.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 prior year, the business posted $1.43 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect 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 was paid on Monday, June 9th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a positive change from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.35%.

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.