Mark Pearson Sells 39,700 Shares of Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Stock

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 753,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,570,181.62. This trade represents a 5.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal 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.

Mark Pearson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, June 18th, Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.28, for a total value of $1,797,616.00.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of Equitable stock opened at $48.43 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.93. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.19 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.05, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its 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 business had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -42.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EQH. Evercore set a $63.00 target price on shares of Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Equitable from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.08.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Equitable in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Equitable by 124.7% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Equitable in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Equitable by 92.6% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 347 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% 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.