Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.08 EPS

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.08), Zacks reports. Equitable had a negative net margin of 2.64% and a positive return on equity of 76.47%.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQH traded up $1.14 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $53.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,103,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,810,558. Equitable has a 12-month low of $32.72 and a 12-month high of $54.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $16.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -48.88 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a fifty day moving average of $49.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.31.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Equitable’s payout ratio is 25.13%.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 1,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.68, for a total value of $79,356.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,677 shares in the company, valued at $825,162.36. The trade was a 8.77 % 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, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.84, for a total value of $1,146,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 141,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,492,273.36. This represents a 15.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 155,032 shares of company stock worth $7,587,971. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on EQH. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Equitable in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their price target on Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Equitable from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.67.

Equitable Company 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.