Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Reduces Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 50.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,442 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,472 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Equitable were worth $721,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Equitable in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in Equitable by 64.1% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 888 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Equitable by 124.7% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQH has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore set a $63.00 price target on Equitable and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research upgraded Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Equitable from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $310,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 15,506 shares in the company, valued at $658,694.88. This trade represents a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total transaction of $647,689.38. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 74,748 shares in the company, valued at $3,371,882.28. The trade was a 16.11% 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 88,803 shares of company stock worth $3,913,078. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Performance

NYSE EQH opened at $47.45 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.71, a PEG ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $44.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.93. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.19 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.The business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.13 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is -42.25%.

Equitable Profile

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.