Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Mizuho Analyst Says

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its target price lifted by analysts at Mizuho from $58.00 to $61.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Mizuho’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 39.29% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on EQH. Wall Street Zen raised Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equitable currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.09.

Equitable Stock Down 0.6%

EQH stock opened at $43.80 on Thursday. Equitable has a twelve month low of $35.19 and a twelve month high of $56.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The firm has a market cap of $12.33 billion, a PE ratio of -15.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50 day moving average of $39.46 and a 200 day moving average of $44.05.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Equitable will post 7.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total transaction of $574,894.32. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 89,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,579,696.12. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total transaction of $404,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 124,218 shares in the company, valued at $5,023,375.92. This represents a 7.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 128,116 shares of company stock worth $5,205,010. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 9.8% in the first quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 291,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,800,000 after acquiring an additional 26,100 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equitable in the first quarter worth $391,000. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 0.7% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 72,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,683,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equitable in the first quarter worth $186,000. Finally, J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 1.5% in the first quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 19,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $708,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.70% 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.