Barclays Increases Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Price Target to $61.00

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) had its price target hoisted by Barclays from $60.00 to $61.00 in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on EQH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Equitable from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Equitable from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.20.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of EQH stock traded up $0.81 on Monday, hitting $49.36. The company had a trading volume of 1,943,019 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,273,440. Equitable has a twelve month low of $31.76 and a twelve month high of $50.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market cap of $15.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -45.28 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $47.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.65.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.53. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 76.47% and a negative net margin of 2.64%. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Equitable will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Equitable's payout ratio is -88.07%.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total value of $1,332,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 658,555 shares in the company, valued at $29,239,842. This represents a 4.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.84, for a total value of $1,146,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 141,629 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,492,273.36. This represents a 15.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 130,032 shares of company stock valued at $6,031,759. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new stake in Equitable during the second quarter worth about $109,000. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Equitable in the second quarter valued at approximately $772,000. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Equitable by 1.3% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 42,993 shares of the company's stock worth $1,750,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. increased its stake in Equitable by 42.8% during the second quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 26,770 shares of the company's stock worth $1,094,000 after acquiring an additional 8,027 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in Equitable by 840.8% in the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 131,564 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,376,000 after purchasing an additional 117,580 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is 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.