Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Raymond James Financial

Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Equitable (NYSE:EQH) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $58.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on EQH. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Equitable from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. UBS Group cut their price target on Equitable from $66.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Zacks Research lowered Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.91.

Equitable Stock Up 2.7%

NYSE EQH traded up $1.14 during trading on Thursday, hitting $43.12. 174,176 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,640,424. The company has a current ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.42. The company has a market capitalization of $12.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.94, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.79. Equitable has a 12 month low of $35.19 and a 12 month high of $56.61.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -22.41%.

Equitable announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 11th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 14,358 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total value of $574,894.32. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 89,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,579,696.12. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.20, for a total transaction of $1,834,140.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 652,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,166,059. This trade represents a 5.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 102,371 shares of company stock worth $4,343,870. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Equitable in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Equitable by 124.7% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the period. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Equitable in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Company 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.