Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Price Target Raised to $67.00

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its price target upped by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $62.00 to $67.00 in a report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Equitable from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wolfe Research lowered Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. One equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.17.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $52.72 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.22. Equitable has a 52 week low of $35.19 and a 52 week high of $55.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.93, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.09.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.05. Equitable had a negative net margin of 8.72% and a positive return on equity of 511.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Equitable will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. Equitable’s payout ratio is -36.25%.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other Equitable news, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 1,466 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.15, for a total value of $74,985.90. Following the transaction, the director owned 26,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,353,684.75. This represents a 5.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 947 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.88, for a total value of $50,077.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 8,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $445,196.72. The trade was a 10.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 114,541 shares of company stock valued at $5,357,784. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Equitable in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Equitable by 124.7% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Equitable during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Equitable during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 92.6% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

About Equitable

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.