The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Makes New $28.51 Million Investment in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 649,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,506,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Equitable by 92.6% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable in the second quarter valued at $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable in the second quarter worth $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 1,126.5% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,332,000 after buying an additional 267,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 45.8% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 626,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,120,000 after buying an additional 196,729 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $386,550.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 34,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,770,759.78. This represents a 17.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 1,466 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.15, for a total value of $74,985.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 26,465 shares in the company, valued at $1,353,684.75. The trade was a 5.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 114,541 shares of company stock worth $5,357,784 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EQH. Mizuho set a $68.00 price objective on Equitable in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Equitable from $62.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. UBS Group upped their target price on Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Zacks Research raised shares of Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.75.

Equitable Stock Up 0.3%

Equitable stock opened at $50.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.19 and a 1-year high of $55.15.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.84 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 8.72% and a positive return on equity of 511.35%. Equitable’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Equitable’s payout ratio is currently -36.25%.

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.