Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Stake Raised by Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 265.0% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 69,503 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 50,460 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Equitable were worth $2,642,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the 4th quarter valued at $606,630,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Equitable by 1,161.7% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,849,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,692,000 after purchasing an additional 7,227,568 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equitable by 1,105.3% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,242,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,390,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139,814 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,958,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,815,000 after buying an additional 781,426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 4,172.5% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 593,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,836,000 after buying an additional 579,137 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In related news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 9,969 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.62, for a total transaction of $394,971.78. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 121,521 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,814,662.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total transaction of $1,087,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 685,025 shares in the company, valued at $24,825,306. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 9,969 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly 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 202,411 shares of company stock worth $7,646,571. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQH has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Equitable from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Equitable from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group cut Equitable from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.90.

Equitable Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:EQH traded down $0.55 during trading on Friday, hitting $40.51. 445,072 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,669,558. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.54. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.65 and a 1-year high of $41.95. The firm has a market cap of $13.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.71 and a beta of 1.43.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.96 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 6.12 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. This is a boost from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.