Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Shares Acquired by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 19.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 91,100 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 14,800 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Equitable were worth $4,341,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Equitable in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Equitable in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Equitable in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Equitable by 92.6% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the period. Finally, Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in Equitable in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $81,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on EQH shares. Evercore set a $63.00 target price on shares of Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 target price on shares of Equitable and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.18.

Trending Headlines about Equitable

Here are the key news stories impacting Equitable this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Equitable raised its quarterly dividend to $0.30 per share, an 11.1% increase from the prior $0.27 payout, signaling management confidence in cash generation and a stronger return of capital to shareholders.
• Positive Sentiment: News reports say Equitable is seeing strong operating cash flow growth while moving ahead with a major merger involving Corebridge Financial, which could improve its growth profile and reshape the investment story. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Director Francis Hondal disclosed multiple small open-market share purchases over time, including recent buys, which can be read as insider confidence, but the transactions are modest in size and likely not a major driver on their own.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary is described as mixed, suggesting investors are still weighing the benefits of the merger and dividend boost against execution risks and valuation questions. Article Title

Equitable Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE EQH opened at $42.60 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.55. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.19 and a 52 week high of $56.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The stock has a market cap of $11.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.00, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.13.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is presently -38.03%.

Equitable announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total value of $1,652,711.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 789,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,853,688.29. This represents a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total transaction of $404,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 124,218 shares in the company, valued at $5,023,375.92. This represents a 7.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 154,191 shares of company stock valued at $6,311,969. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Equitable Company Profile

Equitable Holdings, Inc (NYSE: EQH) is a leading provider of life insurance, annuities and retirement plan services in the United States. Through its insurance subsidiary, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, the firm offers a broad range of permanent and term life insurance products designed to help individuals and families manage risk and build wealth. In addition, Equitable provides fixed, variable and indexed annuity solutions to support income planning in retirement, as well as a suite of group retirement and pension plan services for employers and plan sponsors.

The company also maintains an asset management arm that delivers investment strategies across equities, fixed income and alternative asset classes for both retail and institutional clients.