108,000 Shares in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Acquired by KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 108,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,094,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,976,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $545,418,000 after acquiring an additional 338,205 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,513,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $231,735,000 after purchasing an additional 161,376 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in Equitable by 56.3% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,659,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,351,000 after purchasing an additional 957,828 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Equitable by 20.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,554,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $120,529,000 after buying an additional 437,322 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 2.5% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,220,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,322,000 after buying an additional 54,380 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $54.29 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.18. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.49 and a 52 week high of $56.00. The stock has a market cap of $16.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.21 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.07.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.08). Equitable had a return on equity of 85.70% and a net margin of 10.51%. On average, research analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Equitable’s payout ratio is 25.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total value of $1,549,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 629,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,536,349.35. This trade represents a 4.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.65, for a total transaction of $364,296.90. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 92,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,039,221.85. This represents a 6.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 103,332 shares of company stock valued at $5,364,610 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Equitable from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Equitable from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays increased their price objective on Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.75.

Equitable Profile

Equitable Holdings, Inc, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Investment Management and Research, Protection Solutions, Wealth Management, and Legacy.