Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Boosts Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Price Target to $64.00

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) had its price target boosted by research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $63.00 to $64.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' price objective would suggest a potential upside of 21.21% from the stock's previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Equitable from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $64.09.

Equitable Price Performance

Equitable stock traded down $0.96 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $52.80. The company had a trading volume of 1,572,508 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,545,906. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.10. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $53.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.78. Equitable has a 1 year low of $36.46 and a 1 year high of $56.61. The company has a market capitalization of $16.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.35 and a beta of 1.15.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last issued 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). Equitable had a return on equity of 79.05% and a net margin of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $4.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 105.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Equitable will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.91, for a total value of $352,698.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 94,980 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,025,391.80. This represents a 6.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.18, for a total transaction of $1,595,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 724,367 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,521,837.06. This trade represents a 3.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 117,332 shares of company stock worth $5,993,760 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BTC Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Equitable by 5.9% during the second quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 70,116 shares of the company's stock worth $3,884,000 after buying an additional 3,899 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Equitable by 118.3% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,532 shares of the company's stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 1,372 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Equitable by 6.6% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 4,510 shares of the company's stock worth $253,000 after buying an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Equitable by 27.5% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 105,004 shares of the company's stock worth $5,891,000 after buying an additional 22,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its holdings in Equitable by 20.7% during the second quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 153,400 shares of the company's stock worth $8,606,000 after buying an additional 26,300 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.