379,043 Shares in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Acquired by Four Tree Island Advisory LLC

Four Tree Island Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 379,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,632,000. Equitable accounts for about 5.5% of Four Tree Island Advisory LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable during the third quarter worth $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Equitable during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Equitable by 124.7% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Equitable during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EQH has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group increased their price target on Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Barclays increased their target price on Equitable from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.54, for a total transaction of $1,927,038.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 753,403 shares in the company, valued at $36,570,181.62. The trade was a 5.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $386,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 34,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,770,759.78. This represents a 17.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 114,541 shares of company stock valued at $5,357,784 over the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $50.93 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $13.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $47.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.34. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.19 and a 1-year high of $55.15.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.05. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 511.35% and a negative net margin of 8.72%.The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Equitable’s payout ratio is currently -36.25%.

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.