Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Lowers Holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC reduced its stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 20.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 14,322 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,614 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Equitable were worth $746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EQH. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Equitable in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 111.2% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 678 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Equitable by 33.2% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 61.4% in the 4th quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. now owns 1,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the period. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 154.3% in the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equitable Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $56.11 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $52.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.33. The company has a market cap of $17.05 billion, a PE ratio of 15.25 and a beta of 1.15. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.46 and a fifty-two week high of $56.61.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.14). Equitable had a return on equity of 79.05% and a net margin of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.43 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 105.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. Equitable’s payout ratio is presently 29.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equitable news, insider Nick Lane sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.91, for a total transaction of $264,550.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 139,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,358,352.43. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.18, for a total value of $1,595,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 724,367 shares in the company, valued at $38,521,837.06. The trade was a 3.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 117,332 shares of company stock valued at $5,993,760. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on EQH shares. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Equitable from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group lowered their price target on Equitable from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Equitable from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.64.

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.