Swedbank AB Reduces Holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Swedbank AB lessened its position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 29.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 509,896 shares of the company’s stock after selling 212,791 shares during the period. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Equitable were worth $24,297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $352,000 after buying an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the 4th quarter valued at $953,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 4,325,348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $206,103,000 after buying an additional 28,340 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 114.8% during the 4th quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,640,000 after buying an additional 2,294,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 62.6% during the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 12,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $601,000 after buying an additional 4,855 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Performance

NYSE:EQH opened at $42.60 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $40.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.47. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.19 and a twelve month high of $56.61. The stock has a market cap of $11.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.00, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Equitable’s payout ratio is -38.03%.

Equitable declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 11th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Weiss Ratings lowered Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.44, for a total transaction of $609,353.52. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 79,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,369,863.32. This represents a 15.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 value of $310,104.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 154,191 shares of company stock worth $6,311,969. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Equitable 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.