Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 12,800 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 9.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 122,571 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,800 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Equitable were worth $6,225,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 24.6% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 500,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,412,000 after purchasing an additional 98,711 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the third quarter valued at approximately $371,000. Smith Asset Management Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 6.7% during the third quarter. Smith Asset Management Co. LLC now owns 71,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,654,000 after buying an additional 4,533 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 8.6% in the third quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 139,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,070,000 after buying an additional 11,024 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 4.7% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 53,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,735,000 after buying an additional 2,410 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho set a $65.00 target price on Equitable in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Equitable in a report on Monday, January 5th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial set a $60.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, November 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equitable currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.23.

Insider Activity

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.20, for a total value of $1,834,140.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 652,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,166,059. The trade was a 5.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.65, for a total value of $1,429,500.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 99,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,762,998.70. This represents a 23.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 203,770 shares of company stock worth $9,462,206. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Equitable Stock Up 5.0%

Equitable stock opened at $45.58 on Friday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $41.39 and a twelve month high of $56.61. The business has a fifty day moving average of $47.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.17. The firm has a market cap of $13.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.42.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.65 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 140.87% and a negative net margin of 11.83%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 52.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.58 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 24th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 24th. Equitable’s payout ratio is -22.41%.

Equitable Profile

Equitable Holdings, Inc (NYSE: EQH) is a leading provider of life insurance, annuities and retirement plan services in the United States. Through its insurance subsidiary, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, the firm offers a broad range of permanent and term life insurance products designed to help individuals and families manage risk and build wealth. In addition, Equitable provides fixed, variable and indexed annuity solutions to support income planning in retirement, as well as a suite of group retirement and pension plan services for employers and plan sponsors.

The company also maintains an asset management arm that delivers investment strategies across equities, fixed income and alternative asset classes for both retail and institutional clients.