William James Iv Eckert Sells 7,300 Shares of Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Stock

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $310,104.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,506 shares in the company, valued at $658,694.88. This trade represents a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Equitable Stock Down 3.6%

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $41.24 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $39.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.65. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.19 and a 12-month high of $56.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.61 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.13. 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 posted its 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 company had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. Equitable’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 11th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 11.7% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 1.5% during the first quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 19,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $708,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on EQH shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 target price on shares of Equitable and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equitable has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.18.

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.