Kendall Capital Management Buys Shares of 96,775 Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Kendall Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 96,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,246,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Equitable during the second quarter valued at $1,136,305,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Equitable in the fourth quarter valued at about $550,995,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Equitable in the 2nd quarter worth about $244,052,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable during the 2nd quarter worth about $208,146,000. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,545,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $645,449,000 after purchasing an additional 2,532,791 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $48.84 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.34 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50-day moving average of $47.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.42. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.19 and a fifty-two week high of $55.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.05. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 511.35% and a negative net margin of 8.72%.The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is presently -36.25%.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other news, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,470 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total value of $101,467.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 27,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,147,405.48. This trade represents a 8.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.54, for a total transaction of $1,927,038.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 753,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,570,181.62. The trade was a 5.01% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 114,541 shares of company stock valued at $5,357,784. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQH has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $66.00 price objective on shares of Equitable in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho set a $68.00 target price on shares of Equitable in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $62.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.75.

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.