Insider Selling: Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) CAO Sells 3,500 Shares of Stock

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 3,500 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total transaction of $148,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 19,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $819,596.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Equitable Price Performance

NYSE:EQH opened at $42.11 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.06, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.90 and a 200-day moving average of $39.56. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.65 and a 52 week high of $44.50. The company has a market capitalization of $13.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.04 and a beta of 1.42.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.03. Equitable had a return on equity of 87.49% and a net margin of 7.87%. The business had revenue of $3.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. Equitable’s quarterly revenue was up 47.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 6.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EQH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Equitable from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. UBS Group lowered Equitable from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $40.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Equitable from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Equitable from $44.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equitable currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.64.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in Equitable by 6.9% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 213,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,732,000 after purchasing an additional 13,700 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equitable during the second quarter worth approximately $162,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equitable during the second quarter valued at approximately $444,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 19.3% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 23,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $974,000 after purchasing an additional 3,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Equitable by 32.3% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 8,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,180 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.