Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Hits New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $44.00 to $46.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Equitable traded as high as $41.97 and last traded at $41.80, with a volume of 393672 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.63.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on EQH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Equitable from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. UBS Group lowered Equitable from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $40.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Equitable from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 685,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,825,306. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 9,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.62, for a total value of $394,971.78. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 121,521 shares in the company, valued at $4,814,662.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total transaction of $1,087,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 685,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,825,306. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 202,411 shares of company stock valued at $7,646,571 in the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 1.2% during the 4th 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 increased its stake in Equitable by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 18,804,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $714,766,000 after purchasing an additional 637,916 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $606,630,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 1,161.7% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,849,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,692,000 after purchasing an additional 7,227,568 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Equitable by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,232,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,553,000 after buying an additional 18,475 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equitable Trading Up 0.8 %

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.86. The firm has a market cap of $13.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.12 and a beta of 1.43.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. Equitable’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 6.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. This is a boost from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.