Royal Bank of Canada Sells 12,291 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Royal Bank of Canada lessened its holdings in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 12.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 82,672 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,291 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Equitable were worth $3,069,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EQH. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Equitable by 124.7% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in Equitable in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Equitable by 92.6% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the period. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in Equitable by 64.1% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 888 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Price Performance

EQH opened at $53.02 on Friday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.19 and a 12-month high of $55.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.29. The company has a market capitalization of $14.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.02, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.09.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.84 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 511.35% and a negative net margin of 8.72%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -36.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EQH. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $62.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were 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 owned 74,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,371,882.28. The trade was a 16.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.83, for a total transaction of $259,346.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $391,779.78. The trade was a 39.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 114,541 shares of company stock worth $5,357,784. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.