Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.08), Zacks reports. Equitable had a negative net margin of 2.64% and a positive return on equity of 76.47%.

Equitable Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of Equitable stock traded up $1.14 on Friday, reaching $53.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,103,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,810,558. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $49.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12. Equitable has a 52-week low of $32.72 and a 52-week high of $54.82. The firm has a market cap of $16.73 billion, a PE ratio of -48.88 and a beta of 1.39.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EQH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Equitable from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.43, for a total transaction of $1,422,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 648,555 shares in the company, valued at $30,760,963.65. This represents a 4.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total value of $1,291,250.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 121,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,282,137.85. This represents a 17.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 155,032 shares of company stock valued at $7,587,971 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.