JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Stock Price

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its price objective lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $45.00 to $53.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on EQH. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Equitable from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.00.

Equitable Stock Performance

Equitable stock opened at $49.18 on Tuesday. Equitable has a fifty-two week low of $31.76 and a fifty-two week high of $50.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $15.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -45.12 and a beta of 1.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $47.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.71.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.53. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.78 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 76.47% and a negative net margin of 2.64%. The company’s revenue was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Equitable will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is presently -88.07%.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total transaction of $1,332,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 658,555 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,239,842. This trade represents a 4.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 1,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.68, for a total value of $79,356.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $825,162.36. This represents a 8.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 130,032 shares of company stock valued at $6,031,759 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 195.6% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Equitable by 61.5% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 646 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Equitable during the 3rd quarter valued at $48,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 86.3% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 718 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 623.5% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 2,039 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

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.