Assetmark Inc. Raises Stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 33.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 799 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Equitable were worth $38,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 267.2% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $151,000 after acquiring an additional 2,333 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,000 after buying an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 41.0% in the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 21,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 6,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 8,595 shares of the company’s stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.31, for a total transaction of $1,419,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 639,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,275,514.09. The trade was a 4.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 1,700 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.68, for a total value of $79,356.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $825,162.36. The trade was a 8.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 131,698 shares of company stock worth $6,534,234 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Performance

NYSE:EQH opened at $51.28 on Friday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.18 and a twelve month high of $56.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.58.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.08). Equitable had a return on equity of 85.70% and a net margin of 10.51%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.13%.

Equitable Company Profile

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.