Estate Counselors LLC Purchases Shares of 45,487 Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Estate Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 45,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,688,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EQH. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Equitable by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 627,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,274,000 after purchasing an additional 104,439 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 137.5% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 201,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,471,000 after buying an additional 116,563 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Equitable by 25.3% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 902,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,494,000 after acquiring an additional 181,990 shares in the last quarter. Troluce Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Equitable in the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,422,000. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its position in Equitable by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 14,842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $551,000 after acquiring an additional 2,797 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on EQH shares. Wolfe Research lowered Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Equitable from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Equitable from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Equitable presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.08.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.28, for a total value of $1,797,616.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 765,903 shares in the company, valued at $34,680,087.84. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,470 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total transaction of $101,467.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 27,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,147,405.48. The trade was a 8.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 88,803 shares of company stock worth $3,913,078. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Performance

EQH stock opened at $48.57 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $13.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.10. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.19 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $44.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.92.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. Equitable’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. Equitable’s payout ratio is currently -42.25%.

Equitable 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.