Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $64.18.

EQH has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI cut their target price on 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 restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $66.00 price objective (up from $61.00) on shares of Equitable in a report on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Equitable from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Equitable from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $68.00 price objective (up previously from $67.00) on shares of Equitable in a research report on Monday.

Equitable Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of EQH stock opened at $51.72 on Thursday. Equitable has a twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $56.61. The stock has a market cap of $15.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.05 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $53.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.05 billion. Equitable had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 79.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 105.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.43 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Equitable 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 paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 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 value of $352,698.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 94,980 shares in the company, valued at $5,025,391.80. The trade was a 6.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.09, for a total value of $212,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 19,827 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,052,615.43. The trade was a 16.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,666 shares of company stock worth $7,145,208. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Equitable in the first quarter valued at $26,000. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equitable during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 111.2% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable during the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Equitable by 92.6% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

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.