BMO Capital Markets Issues Positive Forecast for Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Stock Price

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its price objective increased by BMO Capital Markets from $69.00 to $72.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on EQH. Truist Financial raised their target price on Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.83.

Equitable Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of EQH stock opened at $53.42 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $16.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.98 and a beta of 1.39. Equitable has a one year low of $32.96 and a one year high of $56.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $51.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 0.07 and a quick ratio of 0.12.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.08). Equitable had a return on equity of 85.70% and a net margin of 10.51%. Analysts predict that Equitable will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Equitable’s payout ratio is currently 25.13%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 1,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.68, for a total transaction of $79,356.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $825,162.36. This trade represents a 8.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.84, for a total transaction of $1,146,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 141,629 shares in the company, valued at $6,492,273.36. This trade represents a 15.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 131,698 shares of company stock worth $6,534,234 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Equitable during the 4th quarter worth about $668,250,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Equitable by 59.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,817,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $415,899,000 after acquiring an additional 3,303,449 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 700.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,563,172 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,367,837 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Equitable by 608.1% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,468,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,289,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 237.0% during the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 1,758,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,955,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236,799 shares during the period. 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.