Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $48.70.

EQH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Equitable from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.53, for a total value of $316,834.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 105,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,002,342.38. This trade represents a 5.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total value of $148,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 19,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $819,596.82. This trade represents a 15.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 100,166 shares of company stock valued at $4,443,605 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in Equitable by 61.5% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Equitable by 892.9% in the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equitable in the third quarter valued at $48,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Equitable by 86.3% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Equitable by 141.4% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 1,526 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Up 0.4 %

EQH stock opened at $47.56 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $45.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12. Equitable has a fifty-two week low of $31.31 and a fifty-two week high of $50.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.63 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Equitable’s payout ratio is currently -88.07%.

Equitable Company 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.