Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Price Target to $53.00

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its target price reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $54.00 to $53.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Equitable from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.18.

Equitable Stock Down 0.2 %

Equitable stock opened at $51.48 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. Equitable has a 1-year low of $31.76 and a 1-year high of $52.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -47.23 and a beta of 1.39.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.53. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.78 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 76.47% and a negative net margin of 2.64%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Equitable will post 6.04 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -88.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total transaction of $1,549,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 629,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,536,349.35. This trade represents a 4.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.84, for a total transaction of $1,146,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 141,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,492,273.36. This trade represents a 15.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 161,698 shares of company stock worth $7,904,806 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EQH. State Street Corp grew its position in Equitable by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,976,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $545,418,000 after acquiring an additional 338,205 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 3.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,513,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $231,735,000 after purchasing an additional 161,376 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 15.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,083,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,855,000 after buying an additional 539,904 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in Equitable during the 2nd quarter valued at $110,176,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Equitable by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,220,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,322,000 after acquiring an additional 54,380 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% 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.