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

Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $53.00 to $61.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Equitable traded as high as $56.00 and last traded at $55.77, with a volume of 2218180 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.52.

EQH has been the subject of a number of other research reports. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.58.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other Equitable news, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 141,629 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,492,273.36. This represents a 15.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.31, for a total transaction of $1,419,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 639,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,275,514.09. This represents a 4.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 131,698 shares of company stock valued at $6,534,234. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EQH. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Equitable by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,278,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,003,705,000 after acquiring an additional 535,671 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Equitable by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 19,032,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $897,752,000 after purchasing an additional 79,999 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the 4th quarter worth approximately $668,250,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,976,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $545,418,000 after buying an additional 338,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Equitable by 59.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,817,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $415,899,000 after buying an additional 3,303,449 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Equitable Stock Up 0.4 %

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.60 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 0.07 and a quick ratio of 0.12.

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

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Equitable’s payout ratio is currently 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.