Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Purchases 12,249 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 124.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 22,123 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 12,249 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s holdings in Equitable were worth $821,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EQH. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in Equitable by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 11.7% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 19,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $708,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE EQH opened at $48.83 on Thursday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.19 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The stock has a market cap of $13.33 billion, a PE ratio of -17.19, a PEG ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.13 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a boost from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -42.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total transaction of $647,689.38. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 74,748 shares in the company, valued at $3,371,882.28. The trade was a 16.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total transaction of $187,501.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 124,218 shares in the company, valued at $5,273,054.10. This trade represents a 3.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 88,803 shares of company stock valued at $3,913,078 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on EQH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Equitable from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Equitable from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equitable has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.08.

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.