Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Upgraded by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to Outperform Rating

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Equitable (NYSE:EQHFree Report) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has $58.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $54.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on EQH. Barclays upped their target price on Equitable from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Equitable from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Equitable from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.10.

View Our Latest Analysis on EQH

Equitable Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE:EQH opened at $46.76 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12. Equitable has a one year low of $31.76 and a one year high of $50.51. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.73. The company has a market cap of $14.65 billion, a PE ratio of -42.90 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is -88.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total transaction of $1,332,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 658,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,239,842. The trade was a 4.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total value of $148,470.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 19,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $819,596.82. This represents a 15.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 100,166 shares of company stock valued at $4,443,605. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of EQH. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in Equitable by 24,432.7% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,168,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,444,000 after buying an additional 3,155,487 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the second quarter worth about $110,176,000. Samlyn Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the second quarter worth approximately $63,334,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Equitable by 57.8% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,969,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,470,000 after purchasing an additional 721,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Equitable by 1,095.9% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 600,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,543,000 after purchasing an additional 550,436 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Equitable

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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.

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