Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Price Target Raised to $60.00

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its price target hoisted by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $60.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 27.55% from the company’s current price.

EQH has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research cut Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.36.

Equitable Trading Up 2.9%

NYSE EQH traded up $1.33 on Thursday, reaching $47.04. The company had a trading volume of 1,383,873 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,899,267. 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 has a 52 week low of $35.19 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $43.08 and its 200-day moving average is $42.94. The stock has a market cap of $12.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.57, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.10.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Equitable will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.28, for a total transaction of $1,797,616.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 765,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,680,087.84. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,470 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total transaction of $101,467.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 27,931 shares in the company, valued at $1,147,405.48. The trade was a 8.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 154,248 shares of company stock valued at $6,608,358 over the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EQH. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Equitable by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 311,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,965,000 after acquiring an additional 36,135 shares in the last quarter. Prana Capital Management LP increased its stake in Equitable by 80.7% during the 3rd quarter. Prana Capital Management LP now owns 209,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,652,000 after purchasing an additional 93,660 shares in the last quarter. Advent International L.P. acquired a new position in Equitable during the third quarter worth $26,893,000. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 25.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 532,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,057,000 after buying an additional 106,967 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,810,000. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.