Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,370,000 shares, an increase of 26.1% from the May 31st total of 4,260,000 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,610,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 9,969 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.62, for a total transaction of $394,971.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 121,521 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,814,662.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Seth P. Bernstein sold 152,473 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.06, for a total transaction of $5,803,122.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 88,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,374,399.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 9,969 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.62, for a total value of $394,971.78. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 121,521 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,814,662.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 232,411 shares of company stock worth $8,776,371. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Equitable by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 88,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,949,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 71,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,397,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 26.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,939 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $383,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Equitable from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Equitable from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Equitable from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Equitable from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Equitable from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Equitable Price Performance

EQH traded up $0.35 during trading on Friday, reaching $40.86. 4,321,321 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,708,909. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $39.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.36. The company has a market capitalization of $13.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.65 and a beta of 1.41. Equitable has a 1 year low of $24.65 and a 1 year high of $41.95.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Equitable will post 6.12 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. This is an increase from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is 29.72%.

About Equitable

Equitable Holdings, Inc, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Investment Management and Research, Protection Solutions, Wealth Management, and Legacy.