EFG International AG Takes Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

EFG International AG acquired a new stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 158,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,952,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EQH. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable during the second quarter worth about $1,136,305,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Equitable in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $550,995,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of Equitable in the second quarter valued at approximately $399,576,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Equitable during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $244,052,000. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor purchased a new stake in Equitable during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $208,146,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $48.90 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.35 billion, a PE ratio of -14.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.09. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.19 and a fifty-two week high of $55.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 0.15.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.05. Equitable had a negative net margin of 8.72% and a positive return on equity of 511.35%. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 29.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -36.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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. 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. Barclays lifted their target price on Equitable from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wolfe Research downgraded Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Equitable has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $386,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 34,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,770,759.78. This represents a 17.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.54, for a total value of $1,927,038.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 753,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,570,181.62. This trade represents a 5.01% 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. Insiders sold 114,541 shares of company stock worth $5,357,784 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.00% 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.