Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. Invests $4.06 Million in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 85,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,060,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in shares of Equitable by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Equitable by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the period. Clearstead Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Equitable by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,235,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in Equitable by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 10,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC raised its position in Equitable by 4.5% in the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 9,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total transaction of $1,652,711.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 789,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,853,688.29. This represents a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.44, for a total transaction of $404,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 154,191 shares of company stock valued at $6,311,969 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays lifted their price target on Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 price target on Equitable and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.18.

Equitable Stock Down 1.8%

Equitable stock opened at $40.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $40.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.35. The firm has a market cap of $11.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.13. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.19 and a fifty-two week high of $56.61.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 11th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -42.25%.

About Equitable

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.