Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Receives $58.64 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $59.00.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on EQH shares. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 target price on shares of Equitable and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research report on Friday, May 29th. 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 report on Wednesday, April 29th. Zacks Research raised Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In related news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total value of $647,689.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 74,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,371,882.28. This trade represents a 16.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 27,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,147,405.48. This trade represents a 8.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 154,248 shares of company stock valued at $6,608,358 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Equitable in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in Equitable by 64.1% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 124.7% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of Equitable during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Essential Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 245.2% in the 1st quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 1,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of Equitable stock opened at $45.67 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $12.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.08, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $43.08 and its 200 day moving average is $42.94. Equitable has a 1 year low of $35.19 and a 1 year high of $55.28. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. Equitable’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Equitable will post 7.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is a boost from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Equitable’s payout ratio is -42.25%.

About Equitable

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.