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

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

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on EQH. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Evercore set a $63.00 target price on Equitable and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a 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 research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.64.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $43.88 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.04. Equitable has a fifty-two week low of $35.19 and a fifty-two week high of $56.53. The company has a market capitalization of $11.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Equitable will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,470 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total value of $101,467.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 27,931 shares in the company, valued at $1,147,405.48. The trade was a 8.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.83, for a total value of $259,346.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $391,779.78. This represents a 39.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 216,919 shares of company stock valued at $9,118,088. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Equitable in the second quarter valued at $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in Equitable in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its stake in Equitable by 1,126.5% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,332,000 after buying an additional 267,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in Equitable by 45.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 626,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,120,000 after buying an additional 196,729 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.