Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH Shares Purchased by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 20.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 627,169 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 104,439 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Equitable were worth $23,274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in Equitable by 137.5% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 201,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,471,000 after purchasing an additional 116,563 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 25.3% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 902,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,494,000 after buying an additional 181,990 shares in the last quarter. Troluce Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable in the first quarter valued at $7,422,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp raised its holdings in shares of Equitable by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 14,842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $551,000 after buying an additional 2,797 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable in the 1st quarter valued at $2,938,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 target price on Equitable and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.08.

Equitable Trading Down 2.4%

NYSE:EQH opened at $47.69 on Friday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.19 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The firm has a market cap of $13.02 billion, a PE ratio of -16.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $45.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.97.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.Equitable’s revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other Equitable news, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,470 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total value of $101,467.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 27,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,147,405.48. This represents a 8.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 6,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.83, for a total transaction of $259,346.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 9,366 shares in the company, valued at $391,779.78. The trade was a 39.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 128,503 shares of company stock valued at $5,840,116 over the last quarter. 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.