Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Short Interest Update

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,250,000 shares, an increase of 17.4% from the March 15th total of 3,620,000 shares. Approximately 1.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,630,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQH traded down $0.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $36.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,969,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,348,209. The stock has a market cap of $11.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 1.42. Equitable has a one year low of $21.89 and a one year high of $38.44. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $35.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.04.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.50 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Equitable will post 6.02 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. Equitable's payout ratio is 26.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on EQH shares. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Equitable from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Equitable from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Equitable from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $36.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $39.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other Equitable news, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.29, for a total value of $247,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,902 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $737,631.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.29, for a total value of $247,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $737,631.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.29, for a total transaction of $322,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 154,132 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,976,922.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 211,938 shares of company stock valued at $7,213,072 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.02% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Equitable during the 4th quarter worth approximately $553,559,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in Equitable by 1,161.7% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,849,706 shares of the company's stock worth $262,692,000 after buying an additional 7,227,568 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Equitable by 1,734.1% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,952,944 shares of the company's stock worth $176,535,000 after buying an additional 6,573,857 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Equitable by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 26,902,560 shares of the company's stock worth $763,764,000 after buying an additional 2,450,484 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Equitable by 94.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,723,505 shares of the company's stock worth $115,094,000 after buying an additional 1,811,795 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

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.