Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 67,728 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,195,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of EQH. Barclays PLC increased its position in Equitable by 13.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 501,498 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,076,000 after acquiring an additional 59,844 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equitable in the fourth quarter worth $212,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 26.1% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,954 shares of the company's stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Equitable by 298.3% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,689 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 1,265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,577 shares of the company's stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on EQH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Equitable from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Equitable from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $49.00 to $77.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Equitable from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.83.

Equitable Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of Equitable stock opened at $52.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.46 and a 12-month high of $56.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 1.15. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $50.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.16.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). Equitable had a net margin of 10.51% and a return on equity of 85.70%. The company had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.43 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 105.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. This is an increase from Equitable's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.09%.

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.

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