Mizuho Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Stock

Key Points

• Mizuho raised its price target on Equitable from $61 to $62 and kept an “outperform” rating, implying about 35.74% upside from the prior close.
• Other analysts remain generally positive on EQH, with several firms issuing buy/outperform-style ratings and a consensus “Moderate Buy” price target of $59.09.
• Equitable recently reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue, though the stock was trading down around 2.8% at the time of the article.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) had its price target lifted by research analysts at Mizuho from $61.00 to $62.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Mizuho's price objective suggests a potential upside of 35.74% from the company's previous close.

EQH has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore set a $63.00 target price on shares of Equitable and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Equitable from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Equitable currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $59.09.

Equitable Trading Down 2.8%

NYSE:EQH opened at $45.67 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.47 billion, a PE ratio of -16.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.10. Equitable has a 52-week low of $35.19 and a 52-week high of $55.28. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $43.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Equitable will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $310,104.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,506 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $658,694.88. This trade represents a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,470 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total transaction of $101,467.60. Following the sale, the director owned 27,931 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,147,405.48. The trade was a 8.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 154,248 shares of company stock valued at $6,608,358 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,258,124 shares of the company's stock worth $822,351,000 after buying an additional 1,132,861 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Equitable by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,545,628 shares of the company's stock valued at $645,449,000 after acquiring an additional 2,532,791 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Equitable during the 4th quarter valued at about $550,995,000. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Equitable by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,889,730 shares of the company's stock worth $232,996,000 after acquiring an additional 22,087 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Equitable by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,822,908 shares of the company's stock worth $229,812,000 after acquiring an additional 193,640 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Equitable

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.

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