Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Short Interest Update

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,370,000 shares, a growth of 26.1% from the May 31st total of 4,260,000 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 2,610,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 9,969 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total value of $361,276.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 141,062 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,112,086.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total transaction of $1,087,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 685,025 shares in the company, valued at $24,825,306. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 9,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total value of $361,276.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 141,062 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,112,086.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 202,411 shares of company stock valued at $7,646,571 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Equitable by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Equitable by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 88,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,949,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 71,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,397,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 26.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,939 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 4.4% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $383,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Equitable from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Equitable from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. UBS Group cut Equitable from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Equitable from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Equitable Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE EQH traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $41.11. The company had a trading volume of 320,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,663,651. Equitable has a 52 week low of $24.65 and a 52 week high of $41.95. The business’s 50-day moving average is $39.98 and its 200-day moving average is $36.42. The stock has a market cap of $13.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.64 and a beta of 1.43.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.59 billion. The business’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Equitable will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.72%.

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.