Insider Selling: Equitable (NYSE:EQH) COO Sells 14,358 Shares of Stock

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) COO Jeffrey Hurd sold 14,358 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total transaction of $647,689.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 74,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,371,882.28. This represents a 16.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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.

Equitable Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE EQH traded down $0.14 on Thursday, hitting $45.36. 3,918,582 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,916,487. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.19 and a fifty-two week high of $56.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $41.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The company has a market cap of $12.77 billion, a PE ratio of -15.97, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -42.25%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its position in Equitable by 64.1% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Equitable by 124.7% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Essential Partners LLC grew its position in Equitable by 245.2% during the 1st quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 1,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on EQH. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Equitable and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.64.

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.