Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Short Interest Down 27.1% in February

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,600,000 shares, a drop of 27.1% from the February 13th total of 6,310,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,720,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on EQH shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Equitable from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equitable from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $47.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Equitable currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $57.75.

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Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQH traded down $0.56 during trading on Thursday, reaching $52.20. The company had a trading volume of 1,512,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,400,643. Equitable has a 52 week low of $35.49 and a 52 week high of $56.00. The stock has a market cap of $16.07 billion, a PE ratio of 13.67 and a beta of 1.39. 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 business's 50 day moving average price is $52.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.79.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.08). Equitable had a return on equity of 85.70% and a net margin of 10.51%. Analysts expect that Equitable will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 1,700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.68, for a total value of $79,356.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,677 shares in the company, valued at $825,162.36. This trade represents a 8.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.65, for a total transaction of $364,296.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 92,209 shares in the company, valued at $5,039,221.85. This represents a 6.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 105,032 shares of company stock worth $5,443,966 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Equitable by 195.6% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 532 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Equitable by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 646 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Equitable by 111.2% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 678 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 357 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Equitable by 33.2% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 799 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Bank Ltd. grew its position in shares of Equitable by 61.4% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. now owns 1,130 shares of the company's stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.