Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Has $5.65 Million Stock Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 36.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 118,527 shares of the company’s stock after selling 68,614 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Equitable were worth $5,648,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of EQH. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 92.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Equitable in the second quarter valued at about $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in Equitable in the second quarter valued at about $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in Equitable by 1,126.5% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,332,000 after acquiring an additional 267,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Equitable by 45.8% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 626,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,120,000 after acquiring an additional 196,729 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of EQH stock opened at $40.31 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $40.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.25. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.19 and a 12 month high of $56.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.19, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Equitable’s payout ratio is -42.25%.

Equitable declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on EQH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Evercore set a $63.00 target price on Equitable and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 target price on Equitable and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equitable currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.18.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total transaction of $1,652,711.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 789,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,853,688.29. This trade represents a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $310,104.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,506 shares in the company, valued at $658,694.88. The trade was a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 154,191 shares of company stock valued at $6,311,969. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.