Insider Selling: Equitable (NYSE:EQH) CAO Sells $310,104.00 in Stock

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $310,104.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,506 shares in the company, valued at $658,694.88. This trade represents a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of EQH stock opened at $42.46 on Thursday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $35.19 and a one year high of $56.61. The company’s 50-day moving average is $39.80 and its 200 day moving average is $43.61. The company has a market capitalization of $11.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. Equitable’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EQH. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price target on shares of Equitable and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Evercore set a $63.00 price target on shares of Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equitable has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.18.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EQH. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 64.1% in the 1st 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. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 124.7% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 92.6% in the 1st 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. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

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.