Insider Selling: Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Insider Sells 4,417 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Equitable insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares on May 15 at an average price of $42.45, worth about $187,502. The sale reduced his stake by 3.43% and was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan.
• Equitable’s recent earnings topped expectations, with Q1 EPS of $1.62 versus the $1.60 estimate and revenue of $4.23 billion, ahead of forecasts. However, revenue was still down 7.6% from a year earlier.
• Analysts remain cautiously positive on EQH, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.18. The company also has a $1 billion share repurchase authorization in place.

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total transaction of $187,501.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 124,218 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,273,054.10. The trade was a 3.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Nick Lane also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, April 15th, Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of Equitable stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total value of $404,400.00.
• On Wednesday, April 8th, Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of Equitable stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total value of $400,400.00.

Equitable Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE EQH traded up $0.17 on Monday, reaching $42.75. The stock had a trading volume of 4,271,419 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,709,213. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $39.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.73. 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 company has a market capitalization of $12.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.13.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EQH. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Equitable in the 4th quarter valued at $550,995,000. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Equitable by 49.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company's stock valued at $559,232,000 after buying an additional 3,645,301 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in Equitable by 7,955.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,424,823 shares of the company's stock valued at $116,585,000 after buying an additional 2,394,721 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Equitable by 114.8% in the 4th quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company's stock valued at $204,640,000 after buying an additional 2,294,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, London Co. of Virginia grew its stake in Equitable by 4,141.8% in the 3rd quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 1,235,243 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,726,000 after buying an additional 1,206,122 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on EQH. Zacks Research lowered shares of Equitable from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Equitable from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price target on shares of Equitable and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.