Insider Selling: Equitable (NYSE:EQH) CAO Sells $203,261.00 in Stock

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 4,300 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.27, for a total value of $203,261.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $738,593.75. This represents a 21.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Equitable Stock Performance

EQH opened at $48.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.87, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a current ratio of 0.13. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $41.39 and a 52-week high of $56.61. The firm has a market cap of $13.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.49 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s fifty day moving average is $47.01 and its 200-day moving average is $50.97.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 5.80% and a positive return on equity of 107.71%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 52.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.58 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 24th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is -39.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $67.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Equitable from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Equitable to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.18.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 16.5% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 71,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,720,000 after buying an additional 10,089 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equitable in the first quarter worth $99,319,000. Independent Advisor Alliance acquired a new stake in Equitable in the first quarter valued at $212,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board bought a new position in Equitable during the 1st quarter worth $4,167,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in Equitable by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 28,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,469,000 after purchasing an additional 5,987 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Equitable

Equitable Holdings, Inc, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Investment Management and Research, Protection Solutions, Wealth Management, and Legacy.