Mark Pearson Sells 39,700 Shares of Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Stock

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.20, for a total value of $1,834,140.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 652,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,166,059. This represents a 5.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Mark Pearson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, December 18th, Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.88, for a total value of $1,900,836.00.
• On Tuesday, November 18th, Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of Equitable stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.14, for a total transaction of $1,712,658.00.

Equitable Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of EQH stock traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $45.70. 4,540,164 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,601,910. The stock has a market cap of $13.10 billion, a PE ratio of -16.56 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.87. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $41.39 and a 12 month high of $56.61.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 107.71% and a negative net margin of 5.80%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 52.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.58 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 24th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -39.13%.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Equitable in the 2nd quarter worth about $703,060,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 49.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $559,232,000 after acquiring an additional 3,645,301 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Equitable by 26.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,428,619 shares of the company’s stock valued at $415,786,000 after buying an additional 1,551,551 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Equitable by 29.6% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,498,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,443,000 after purchasing an additional 1,254,521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thornburg Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 0.3% in the third quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,867,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,179,000 after buying an additional 12,370 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on EQH shares. Mizuho set a $65.00 price target on Equitable in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Equitable from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Equitable in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Equitable from $67.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Equitable from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $62.54.

Equitable Company Profile

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.