Natixis Advisors LLC Has $2.87 Million Stock Holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Natixis Advisors LLC decreased its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 39.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,278 shares of the company’s stock after selling 38,780 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Equitable were worth $2,872,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AXQ Capital LP boosted its holdings in Equitable by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 34,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,652,000 after acquiring an additional 5,871 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Equitable in the fourth quarter valued at about $550,995,000. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new position in Equitable in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,060,000. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in Equitable by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 558,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,626,000 after acquiring an additional 58,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Equitable by 301.2% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 146,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,996,000 after buying an additional 110,235 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 7,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $310,104.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 15,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $658,694.88. This trade represents a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.63, for a total value of $1,652,711.00. Following the sale, 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 156,661 shares of company stock valued at $6,413,437 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on EQH shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Mizuho raised their target price on Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.18.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of EQH opened at $41.92 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.19 and a 1 year high of $56.61. The stock has a market cap of $11.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $40.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.21.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 232.29% and a negative net margin of 7.26%.Equitable’s revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 11th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding 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 believes its shares are undervalued.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Equitable’s payout ratio is -42.25%.

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.