Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $29.94 Million in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 634,701 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,939,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of Equitable as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of EQH. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 195.6% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 532 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 61.5% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 646 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 33.2% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 799 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 298.3% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,689 shares of the company's stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Equitable by 31.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

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Equitable Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:EQH traded down $0.71 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $51.55. 2,237,828 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,405,659. The company has a fifty day moving average of $52.47 and a 200 day moving average of $47.69. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.18 and a 12 month high of $56.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.49 and a beta of 1.39.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.08). Equitable had a net margin of 10.51% and a return on equity of 85.70%. On average, research analysts predict that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on EQH shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays boosted 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 boosted their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.75.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 1,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.68, for a total transaction of $79,356.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $825,162.36. The trade was a 8.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total transaction of $369,163.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 104,298 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,776,023.24. The trade was a 6.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 130,032 shares of company stock worth $6,589,966 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.