82,100 Shares in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Bought by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 82,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,047,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of EQH. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Equitable in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $550,995,000. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 49.5% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,232,000 after purchasing an additional 3,645,301 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 7,955.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,424,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,585,000 after buying an additional 2,394,721 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Equitable by 114.8% in the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,294,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,640,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, London Co. of Virginia grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 4,141.8% in the third quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 1,235,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,726,000 after buying an additional 1,206,122 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Mizuho upped their target price on Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Equitable from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.64.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of EQH opened at $43.97 on Monday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.19 and a 52-week high of $56.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.09.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.30 dividend. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Equitable’s payout ratio is currently -42.25%.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other Equitable news, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,470 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total transaction of $101,467.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 27,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,147,405.48. This represents a 8.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total transaction of $187,501.65. Following the sale, the insider owned 124,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,273,054.10. This trade represents a 3.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 216,919 shares of company stock valued at $9,118,088 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.