Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Short Interest Update

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,600,000 shares, a growth of 9.5% from the November 30th total of 4,200,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,430,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days. Approximately 1.5% of the company's shares are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on EQH shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Equitable from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the company from $54.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Equitable from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Equitable from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In related news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.53, for a total value of $316,834.98. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 105,246 shares in the company, valued at $5,002,342.38. The trade was a 5.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 1,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.68, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 130,032 shares of company stock valued at $6,031,759 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equitable

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Equitable by 36.3% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,520 shares of the company's stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,737 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its position in Equitable by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 44,700 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,826,000 after acquiring an additional 2,004 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equitable in the 2nd quarter valued at $467,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in shares of Equitable by 2,388.2% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 132,971 shares of the company's stock worth $5,433,000 after acquiring an additional 127,627 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Equitable during the 2nd quarter worth $109,000. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equitable Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of EQH traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $47.17. 1,014,816 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,488,932. The firm has a market cap of $14.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.27 and a beta of 1.39. Equitable has a 12-month low of $31.76 and a 12-month high of $50.51. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $46.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.53 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equitable will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Equitable's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -88.07%.

Equitable Company Profile

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.