UBS Group Raises Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Price Target to $68.00

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its price target hoisted by analysts at UBS Group from $63.00 to $68.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 49.12% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on EQH. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Equitable from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Raymond James Financial set a $58.00 target price on shares of Equitable and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.00.

Equitable Trading Down 2.9%

NYSE:EQH traded down $1.38 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $45.60. 1,513,294 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,902,293. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $43.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.02, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.10. 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 has a 12-month low of $35.19 and a 12-month high of $55.28.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equitable news, insider Nick Lane sold 4,417 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.45, for a total transaction of $187,501.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 124,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,273,054.10. The trade was a 3.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bertram L. Scott sold 2,470 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total value of $101,467.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 27,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,147,405.48. This trade represents a 8.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 154,248 shares of company stock worth $6,608,358 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 92.6% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Equitable during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the second quarter worth approximately $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 1,126.5% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,332,000 after purchasing an additional 267,389 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 45.8% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 626,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,120,000 after purchasing an additional 196,729 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.