Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $58.1818.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Evercore set a $63.00 target price on Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays lifted their target price on Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th.

Equitable Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of EQH opened at $42.56 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $39.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.13. Equitable has a 1-year low of $35.19 and a 1-year high of $56.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.Equitable’s revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.35 EPS. Analysts expect that Equitable will post 7.11 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 789,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,853,688.29. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through 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 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total value of $574,894.32. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 89,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,579,696.12. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. 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 in the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 20.0% in the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 627,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,274,000 after buying an additional 104,439 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 137.5% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 201,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,471,000 after buying an additional 116,563 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 25.3% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 902,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,494,000 after buying an additional 181,990 shares in the last quarter. Troluce Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equitable in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $7,422,000. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 14,842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $551,000 after buying an additional 2,797 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Company 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.