Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $39.67.

EQH has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Equitable from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Equitable from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. UBS Group increased their target price on Equitable from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Equitable from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Equitable from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th.

Equitable Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Equitable stock opened at $36.89 on Tuesday. Equitable has a 52 week low of $21.89 and a 52 week high of $38.44. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.62. The firm has a market cap of $12.09 billion, a PE ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 1.42.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.33 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 analyst estimates of $3.50 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Equitable will post 6.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.39%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equitable news, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.29, for a total transaction of $247,030.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 20,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $737,631.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.38, for a total value of $1,942,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 619,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,063,457.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 7,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now owns 20,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $737,631.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 241,907 shares of company stock worth $8,338,649 in the last quarter. 1.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,012,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,265,815,000 after acquiring an additional 446,752 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake 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 last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Equitable during the 4th quarter worth approximately $606,630,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake 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 last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Equitable by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,232,821 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,553,000 after buying an additional 18,475 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Company 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.