Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Shares Sold by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC decreased its holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 81.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 11,895 shares of the company’s stock after selling 51,932 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Equitable were worth $561,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EQH. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 61.5% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 646 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Equitable during the third quarter valued at approximately $243,000. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd raised its stake in Equitable by 47.0% during the third quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 10,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $448,000 after buying an additional 3,407 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in Equitable by 1.1% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 711,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,919,000 after buying an additional 7,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Equitable by 24.2% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 266,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,208,000 after buying an additional 51,990 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of EQH stock opened at $51.40 on Thursday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.67 and a 12-month high of $56.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.46 and a beta of 1.39. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 0.07 and a quick ratio of 0.12.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Equitable’s payout ratio is currently 25.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQH has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Equitable from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Barclays upped their target price on Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Equitable from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.31, for a total transaction of $1,419,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 639,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,275,514.09. This trade represents a 4.48 % decrease in their position. The sale 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 stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total value of $369,163.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 104,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,776,023.24. The trade was a 6.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 131,698 shares of company stock valued at $6,534,234. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.