Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Sets New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $45.00 to $53.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Equitable traded as high as $51.56 and last traded at $51.56, with a volume of 171 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $49.11.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Equitable from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $54.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equitable has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.00.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total value of $1,332,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 658,555 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,239,842. The trade was a 4.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 1,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.68, for a total transaction of $79,356.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $825,162.36. This represents a 8.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 130,032 shares of company stock worth $6,031,759 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 2.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,976,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $545,418,000 after acquiring an additional 338,205 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 3.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,513,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $231,735,000 after acquiring an additional 161,376 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 15.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,083,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,855,000 after acquiring an additional 539,904 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new position in shares of Equitable during the second quarter valued at about $110,176,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 2.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,220,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,322,000 after acquiring an additional 54,380 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equitable Trading Down 0.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $15.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.00 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $47.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.78.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.53. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.78 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 2.64% and a positive return on equity of 76.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 6.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is presently -88.07%.

About Equitable

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.