Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Stock Price Expected to Rise, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Analyst Says

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) had its target price raised by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $45.00 to $53.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Equitable from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Equitable Price Performance

EQH traded down $0.23 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $49.18. 1,939,206 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,189,876. 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 capitalization of $15.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.12 and a beta of 1.39. Equitable has a 52-week low of $31.76 and a 52-week high of $50.51. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.65.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $3.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Equitable will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Equitable's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -88.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of Equitable 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 105,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,002,342.38. The trade was a 5.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 1,700 shares of the company's 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $825,162.36. This represents a 8.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 130,032 shares of company stock worth $6,031,759. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new position in Equitable during the 2nd quarter valued at about $110,176,000. Samlyn Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Equitable during the 2nd quarter valued at about $63,334,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 700.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,563,172 shares of the company's stock valued at $74,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,367,837 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 1,095.9% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 600,662 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,543,000 after purchasing an additional 550,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 539,904 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.