Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $62.7692.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on EQH shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Equitable from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Equitable in a research report on Monday, December 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, November 16th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Equitable from $67.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Equitable in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $47.72 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.87, a current ratio of 0.13 and a quick ratio of 0.13. The business has a 50-day moving average of $46.78 and a 200-day moving average of $50.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.29 and a beta of 1.13. Equitable has a fifty-two week low of $41.39 and a fifty-two week high of $56.61.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 5.80% and a positive return on equity of 107.71%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 52.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.58 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Equitable will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 24th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 24th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is -39.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 4,300 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.27, for a total transaction of $203,261.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $738,593.75. The trade was a 21.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,790 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.35, for a total transaction of $328,296.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 61,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,988,658.55. This represents a 9.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 173,770 shares of company stock worth $8,120,014. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 23.7% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 329,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,162,000 after purchasing an additional 63,162 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Equitable during the 1st quarter worth $439,000. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable during the first quarter worth $456,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equitable in the first quarter valued at about $7,403,000. Finally, Ascent Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 6.6% in the first quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 6,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 424 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.