Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor Purchases Shares of 4,743,519 Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 4,743,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,146,000. Equitable accounts for approximately 1.7% of Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EQH. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Equitable during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Equitable by 124.7% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Equitable in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased 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 buying an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equitable Trading Down 0.1%

Equitable stock opened at $53.02 on Monday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.19 and a 12 month high of $55.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The stock has a market cap of $14.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.27.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during 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%.Equitable’s quarterly revenue was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQH has been the subject of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Equitable from $62.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings lowered Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group upped their target price on Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Equitable from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.17.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.54, for a total value of $1,927,038.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 753,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,570,181.62. This represents a 5.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $386,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 34,357 shares in the company, valued at $1,770,759.78. This represents a 17.92% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 114,541 shares of company stock worth $5,357,784. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.