Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Given New $60.00 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its price objective upped by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $51.00 to $60.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

EQH has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 target price on shares of Equitable and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Zacks Research downgraded Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.82.

Equitable Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $43.80 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $12.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.42, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. Equitable has a 12 month low of $35.19 and a 12 month high of $56.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $39.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.05.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Equitable will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -22.41%.

Equitable declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total transaction of $1,652,711.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 789,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,853,688.29. This trade represents a 4.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.58, for a total value of $582,647.64. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 84,403 shares in the company, valued at $3,425,073.74. The trade was a 14.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 128,116 shares of company stock valued at $5,205,010 over the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Equitable by 180.7% in the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 32,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,667,000 after acquiring an additional 21,127 shares in the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 26.5% during the third quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 241,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,616,000 after acquiring an additional 50,455 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new position in shares of Equitable during the third quarter worth approximately $1,684,000. Korea Investment CORP lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 299,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,203,000 after purchasing an additional 59,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algebris UK Ltd. increased its stake in Equitable by 28.6% during the 3rd quarter. Algebris UK Ltd. now owns 712,460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,151,000 after purchasing an additional 158,488 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Equitable

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.