Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Decreases Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC trimmed its stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 12.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 82,636 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,661 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Equitable were worth $3,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Equitable during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in 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 during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Equitable by 124.7% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in Equitable during the third quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Essential Partners LLC increased its position in Equitable by 245.2% during the first quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 1,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.54, for a total transaction of $1,927,038.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 753,403 shares in the company, valued at $36,570,181.62. This represents a 5.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 1,466 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.15, for a total value of $74,985.90. Following the sale, the director directly owned 26,465 shares in the company, valued at $1,353,684.75. This trade represents a 5.25% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 114,541 shares of company stock worth $5,357,784. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho set a $68.00 price target on shares of Equitable in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Equitable from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.17.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of Equitable stock opened at $52.72 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.19 and a 12 month high of $55.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $46.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.22.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.05. Equitable had a negative net margin of 8.72% and a positive return on equity of 511.35%. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is presently -36.25%.

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.