Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Sells 494,154 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lessened its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 35.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 900,918 shares of the company’s stock after selling 494,154 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 0.29% of Equitable worth $42,496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EQH. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Equitable in the 4th quarter worth $668,250,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in Equitable by 2.7% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Equitable by 3.0% during 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 last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,659,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,351,000 after acquiring an additional 957,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Equitable by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,554,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $120,529,000 after purchasing an additional 437,322 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other Equitable news, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total transaction of $1,291,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 121,629 shares in the company, valued at $6,282,137.85. The trade was a 17.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.16, for a total value of $1,534,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 753,206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,534,018.96. This represents a 3.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 103,332 shares of company stock worth $5,364,610. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Up 0.3 %

Equitable stock opened at $52.23 on Wednesday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.49 and a fifty-two week high of $56.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 0.07 and a quick ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.03 billion, a PE ratio of 13.67 and a beta of 1.39. The company’s 50-day moving average is $53.01 and its 200-day moving average is $48.65.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.08). Equitable had a return on equity of 85.70% and a net margin of 10.51%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is 25.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Equitable from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.75.

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.