Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Now Covered by Mizuho

Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Equitable (NYSE:EQH) in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $66.00 target price on the stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on EQH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Equitable from $67.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Equitable to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.33.

Equitable Price Performance

Equitable stock opened at $48.31 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $13.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.50 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.87. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.89. Equitable has a 52 week low of $41.39 and a 52 week high of $56.61.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued 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). Equitable had a positive return on equity of 107.71% and a negative net margin of 5.80%.The company had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. Equitable’s quarterly revenue was down 52.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Equitable will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 4,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $738,593.75. The trade was a 21.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,790 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.99, for a total value of $332,642.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 75,098 shares in the company, valued at $3,679,051.02. This trade represents a 8.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 180,658 shares of company stock worth $8,927,601. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Equitable by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 101,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,165,000 after buying an additional 16,687 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new stake in shares of Equitable in the third quarter worth approximately $233,000. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in Equitable by 62.5% during the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Equitable by 6.0% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 76,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,883,000 after purchasing an additional 4,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cambria Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in Equitable by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cambria Investment Management L.P. now owns 10,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,000 after buying an additional 2,061 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Company Profile

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.