Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Shares Sold by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 50.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,442 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,472 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Equitable were worth $721,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Equitable by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 311,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,965,000 after acquiring an additional 36,135 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable in the fourth quarter valued at about $550,995,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new position in Equitable in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,209,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Equitable by 114.8% during the 4th quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,640,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 24.4% in the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 336,272 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,473,000 after acquiring an additional 66,009 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equitable Stock Performance

NYSE EQH opened at $47.45 on Friday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.19 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $44.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.93. 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 quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.The business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. Equitable’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.13 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 -42.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Equitable from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Equitable from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 15,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $658,694.88. The trade was a 32.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.28, for a total value of $1,797,616.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 765,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,680,087.84. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 88,803 shares of company stock valued at $3,913,078 in the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.