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 firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 789,183 shares in the company, valued at $32,853,688.29. This trade represents a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

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

• On Wednesday, April 15th, Mark Pearson sold 1,387 shares of Equitable stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total transaction of $55,521.61.
• On Wednesday, April 8th, Mark Pearson sold 38,313 shares of Equitable stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.05, for a total transaction of $1,534,435.65.

Equitable Stock Up 1.2%

Equitable stock opened at $41.51 on Thursday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.19 and a 1-year high of $56.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.42.

Equitable declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -22.41%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 180.7% during the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 32,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,667,000 after purchasing an additional 21,127 shares in the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 26.5% during the third quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 241,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,616,000 after purchasing an additional 50,455 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new stake in Equitable during the third quarter worth about $1,684,000. Korea Investment CORP increased its holdings in Equitable by 24.9% during the third quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 299,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,203,000 after buying an additional 59,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algebris UK Ltd. increased its holdings in Equitable by 28.6% during the third quarter. Algebris UK Ltd. now owns 712,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,151,000 after buying an additional 158,488 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Equitable from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.91.

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.