Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Cuts Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 63,777 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,023 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Equitable were worth $3,008,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in EQH. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in Equitable during the third quarter valued at $587,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Equitable by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 908,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,191,000 after purchasing an additional 153,457 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC bought a new position in Equitable in the 4th quarter worth about $295,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Equitable by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,117,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,001,000 after purchasing an additional 148,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in Equitable by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 752,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,476,000 after purchasing an additional 78,725 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQH has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.83.

Equitable Stock Up 0.0 %

EQH stock opened at $54.10 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $16.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.07. The business’s 50-day moving average is $51.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.69. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.96 and a fifty-two week high of $56.00.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.08). Equitable had a return on equity of 85.70% and a net margin of 10.51%. As a group, analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Equitable’s payout ratio is 25.13%.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.31, for a total transaction of $315,368.46. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 98,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,677,776.25. The trade was a 6.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.31, for a total transaction of $1,419,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 639,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,275,514.09. This trade represents a 4.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 131,698 shares of company stock worth $6,534,234 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.