Vontobel Holding Ltd. Makes New Investment in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $499,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Creative Planning increased its stake in Equitable by 3.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 13,541 shares of the company’s stock worth $569,000 after acquiring an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Equitable by 206.9% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,000 after acquiring an additional 5,358 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 46.2% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 359,998 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,131,000 after buying an additional 113,783 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 5.1% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable in the third quarter valued at about $286,000. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Equitable from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays increased their target price on Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Equitable in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Equitable has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total transaction of $369,163.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 104,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,776,023.24. This trade represents a 6.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total value of $1,291,250.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 121,629 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,282,137.85. This represents a 17.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 131,698 shares of company stock valued at $6,534,234 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $53.95 on Friday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.96 and a fifty-two week high of $56.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $50.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. The firm has a market cap of $16.90 billion, a PE ratio of 14.12 and a beta of 1.39.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.08). Equitable had a net margin of 10.51% and a return on equity of 85.70%. Sell-side analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.13%.

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.