Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Insider Nick Lane Sells 14,923 Shares

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) insider Nick Lane sold 14,923 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.24, for a total value of $794,500.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 110,007 shares in the company, valued at $5,856,772.68. This represents a 11.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Equitable Price Performance

EQH opened at $51.99 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $49.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.91. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.19 and a 12-month high of $55.15. The firm has a market cap of $14.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.71, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.84 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 8.72% and a positive return on equity of 511.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is presently -36.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EQH has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Equitable from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. UBS Group increased 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. Mizuho set a $68.00 target price on Equitable in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of EQH. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 92.6% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Equitable in the second quarter valued at $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in Equitable in the second quarter valued at $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in Equitable by 1,126.5% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,332,000 after buying an additional 267,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Equitable by 45.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 626,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,120,000 after buying an additional 196,729 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equitable Company 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.