Ellsworth Advisors LLC Invests $894,000 in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 26,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $894,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Natixis purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 128.3% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable during the third quarter valued at approximately $67,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable during the second quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 23.6% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on EQH shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Equitable from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, December 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.89.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.07, for a total value of $1,984,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 639,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,152,398.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 20,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $737,631.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.07, for a total transaction of $1,984,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 639,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,152,398.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 241,938 shares of company stock valued at $8,067,472. 1.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Equitable Stock Up 0.1 %

EQH stock traded up $0.04 during trading on Friday, hitting $38.01. 1,636,812 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,986,701. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.89 and a 52 week high of $38.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $34.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 1.41.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.50 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 6.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.04%.

Equitable Profile

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.