Qsemble Capital Management LP Sells 45,764 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Qsemble Capital Management LP lessened its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 30.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 103,008 shares of the company’s stock after selling 45,764 shares during the period. Qsemble Capital Management LP’s holdings in Equitable were worth $4,908,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EQH. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 49.5% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,012,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,232,000 after buying an additional 3,645,301 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the third quarter worth approximately $101,547,000. London Co. of Virginia lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 4,141.8% in the third quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 1,235,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,726,000 after buying an additional 1,206,122 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 337.4% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,502,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,290,000 after buying an additional 1,158,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,209,000. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on EQH shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Zacks Research cut shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Equitable presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equitable news, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total value of $404,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 124,218 shares in the company, valued at $5,023,375.92. This represents a 7.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total transaction of $1,652,711.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 789,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,853,688.29. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 128,116 shares of company stock worth $5,205,010 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Equitable Stock Performance

EQH opened at $42.56 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.98, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.13. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.19 and a 1-year high of $56.61. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The company’s revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 11th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Equitable 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.