Prudential PLC Has $437,000 Stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. $EQH

Prudential PLC decreased its position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQHFree Report) by 94.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,177 shares of the company’s stock after selling 152,462 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Equitable were worth $437,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vise Technologies Inc. lifted its holdings in Equitable by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 34,640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,651,000 after buying an additional 824 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Equitable by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 45,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,150,000 after buying an additional 9,987 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Equitable by 44.1% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 20,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $978,000 after buying an additional 6,286 shares during the period. AXQ Capital LP lifted 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 buying an additional 5,871 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Equitable in the fourth quarter valued at $550,995,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $41.33 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $40.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.22. 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 P/E ratio of -14.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.11. 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 (NYSE:EQHGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.02. Equitable had a negative net margin of 7.26% and a positive return on equity of 232.29%. The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This is a boost from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Equitable’s payout ratio is presently -42.25%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Evercore set a $63.00 target price on shares of Equitable and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.18.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on EQH

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.44, for a total transaction of $609,353.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 79,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,369,863.32. The trade was a 15.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 39,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly 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. 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 sold a total of 156,661 shares of company stock valued at $6,413,437 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Equitable Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding EQH? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQHFree Report).

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Equitable (NYSE:EQH)

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