Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) posted its earnings results on Monday. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02, FiscalAI reports. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 140.87% and a negative net margin of 11.83%.

Equitable Stock Down 1.6%

EQH stock traded down $0.68 on Monday, reaching $41.50. 4,215,204 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,591,593. Equitable has a one year low of $35.19 and a one year high of $56.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.42, a current ratio of 0.13 and a quick ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $11.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.10.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -22.41%.

Equitable declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total value of $574,894.32. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 89,403 shares in the company, valued at $3,579,696.12. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total value of $1,652,711.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 789,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,853,688.29. This trade represents a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 128,116 shares of company stock valued at $5,205,010 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EQH. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equitable in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in Equitable during the third quarter valued at $38,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Equitable by 92.6% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Equitable during the fourth quarter valued at $73,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Equitable by 1,350.0% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 1,782 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Equitable from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price objective on Equitable and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 price objective on Equitable in a report on Monday, January 5th. Zacks Research cut Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Equitable from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.82.

About Equitable

Equitable Holdings, Inc (NYSE: EQH) is a leading provider of life insurance, annuities and retirement plan services in the United States. Through its insurance subsidiary, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, the firm offers a broad range of permanent and term life insurance products designed to help individuals and families manage risk and build wealth. In addition, Equitable provides fixed, variable and indexed annuity solutions to support income planning in retirement, as well as a suite of group retirement and pension plan services for employers and plan sponsors.

The company also maintains an asset management arm that delivers investment strategies across equities, fixed income and alternative asset classes for both retail and institutional clients.