Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 539,904 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,083,650 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 539,904 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Equitable were worth $166,855,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Equitable by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,012,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,265,815,000 after purchasing an additional 446,752 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Equitable by 3.5% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 18,804,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $714,766,000 after purchasing an additional 637,916 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in Equitable by 1,161.7% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,849,706 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,692,000 after purchasing an additional 7,227,568 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Equitable by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,232,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,553,000 after purchasing an additional 18,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Equitable by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,958,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,815,000 after purchasing an additional 781,426 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on EQH shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Equitable from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group downgraded Equitable from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $40.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Equitable from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Barclays began coverage on Equitable in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $59.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Equitable from $44.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.64.

Equitable Price Performance

NYSE:EQH opened at $42.13 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.04 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.90 and a 200-day moving average of $39.41. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.65 and a 52 week high of $44.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.06, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.03. Equitable had a return on equity of 87.49% and a net margin of 7.87%. The company had revenue of $3.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 47.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 6.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 9,969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.09, for a total value of $429,564.21. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 111,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,806,775.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.20, for a total transaction of $1,266,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 678,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,635,021. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 9,969 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.09, for a total transaction of $429,564.21. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 111,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,806,775.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 73,469 shares of company stock worth $3,067,434 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Equitable Profile

Equitable Holdings, Inc, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Investment Management and Research, Protection Solutions, Wealth Management, and Legacy.