Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,240,000 shares, a decrease of 7.8% from the December 15th total of 4,600,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,450,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.53, for a total transaction of $316,834.98. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 105,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,002,342.38. This represents a 5.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.84, for a total transaction of $1,146,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 141,629 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,492,273.36. This represents a 15.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 161,698 shares of company stock valued at $7,904,806 over the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 86.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 435,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,797,000 after purchasing an additional 202,021 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 81.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 102,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,183,000 after purchasing an additional 46,027 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 15.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,083,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,855,000 after purchasing an additional 539,904 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 11.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 31,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,283,000 after purchasing an additional 3,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL purchased a new position in shares of Equitable in the second quarter worth about $211,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of EQH traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $51.70. 1,567,195 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,062,002. Equitable has a 52 week low of $31.76 and a 52 week high of $52.04. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The company has a market cap of $16.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -47.43 and a beta of 1.39.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53. Equitable had a negative net margin of 2.64% and a positive return on equity of 76.47%. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Equitable will post 6.04 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -88.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on EQH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Equitable from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Equitable from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.18.

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.