Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Research

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) was upgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Equitable and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 target price on Equitable and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.64.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $43.88 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.98 billion, a PE ratio of -15.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $42.54 and a 200-day moving average of $43.04. Equitable has a one year low of $35.19 and a one year high of $56.53.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.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 firm posted $1.35 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Equitable will post 7.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 789,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,853,688.29. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of Equitable 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,023,375.92. The trade was a 7.45% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 216,919 shares of company stock worth $9,118,088. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $550,995,000. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Equitable by 49.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,232,000 after acquiring an additional 3,645,301 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of Equitable by 7,955.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,424,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,585,000 after purchasing an additional 2,394,721 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 114.8% in the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,640,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294,902 shares during the period. Finally, London Co. of Virginia boosted its stake in Equitable by 4,141.8% during the 3rd quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 1,235,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,726,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206,122 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.