Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.05 EPS

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.05, FiscalAI reports. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 336.85% and a negative net margin of 8.72%.The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Equitable Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of EQH stock traded up $0.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $51.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,445,720 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,767,503. Equitable has a 52 week low of $35.19 and a 52 week high of $55.24. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.98. The company has a market cap of $14.19 billion, a PE ratio of -15.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.09.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -36.25%.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other Equitable news, 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 sale, the director directly 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $1,927,038.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 753,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,570,181.62. This represents a 5.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 128,503 shares of company stock valued at $5,840,116. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EQH. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Equitable by 92.6% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Equitable during the second quarter worth about $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new stake in Equitable in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 1,126.5% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,332,000 after buying an additional 267,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 45.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 626,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,120,000 after buying an additional 196,729 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Equitable from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Evercore set a $63.00 price target on Equitable and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research raised shares of Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Mizuho set a $68.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.75.

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.