New York State Common Retirement Fund Buys 145,597 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 73.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 343,097 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 145,597 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Equitable were worth $19,248,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Equitable during the second quarter valued at approximately $703,060,000. Boston Partners bought a new position in Equitable in the 1st quarter valued at $108,264,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Equitable by 23.4% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,878,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $566,662,000 after purchasing an additional 2,061,496 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the 1st quarter valued at $99,319,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 553.0% in the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,166,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,553,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834,889 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of Equitable stock opened at $44.48 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.75 billion, a PE ratio of -16.12 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.87. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $41.39 and a 12 month high of $56.61. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $47.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.29.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 107.71% and a negative net margin of 5.80%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 52.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.58 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 24th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is -39.13%.

Insider Activity

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.14, for a total value of $1,712,658.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 676,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,185,935.60. The trade was a 5.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Robin M. Raju sold 36,888 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total transaction of $1,991,952.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 140,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,573,932. The trade was a 20.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 176,358 shares of company stock valued at $8,760,599. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on EQH shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Equitable from $67.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Equitable from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Equitable in a report on Monday. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of Equitable in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Equitable to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.18.

About Equitable

Equitable Holdings, Inc, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Investment Management and Research, Protection Solutions, Wealth Management, and Legacy.