Brokerages Set Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) PT at $60.08

Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $60.0833.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EQH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 target price on shares of Equitable and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Equitable from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th.

Equitable Stock Performance

EQH stock opened at $47.69 on Monday. 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 market cap of $13.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.97. Equitable has a 52 week low of $35.19 and a 52 week high of $55.24.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Equitable will post 7.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total value of $187,501.65. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 124,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,273,054.10. The trade was a 3.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 Equitable stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total value of $101,467.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 27,931 shares of the company’s stock, 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 quarter, insiders have sold 128,503 shares of company stock valued at $5,840,116. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Equitable in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in Equitable by 64.1% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Equitable by 124.7% in the fourth 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 Equitable during the third quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Essential Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Equitable by 245.2% during 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

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.