Legal & General Group Plc Sells 590,751 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 28.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,500,652 shares of the company's stock after selling 590,751 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.48% of Equitable worth $70,786,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Equitable in the 4th quarter worth approximately $668,250,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Equitable by 59.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,817,020 shares of the company's stock worth $415,899,000 after purchasing an additional 3,303,449 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Equitable by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,089,046 shares of the company's stock valued at $381,560,000 after buying an additional 355,078 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 56.3% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,659,691 shares of the company's stock valued at $130,351,000 after buying an additional 957,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Equitable by 20.7% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,554,890 shares of the company's stock worth $120,529,000 after buying an additional 437,322 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on EQH shares. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Equitable from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Equitable from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $60.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.16, for a total value of $1,534,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 753,206 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,534,018.96. The trade was a 3.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.57, for a total transaction of $237,850.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 139,073 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,615,702.61. This trade represents a 3.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 83,332 shares of company stock worth $4,141,315 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of EQH stock traded up $0.87 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $47.22. 573,481 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,617,199. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $14.49 billion, a PE ratio of 12.33 and a beta of 1.23. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.51 and a 12 month high of $56.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $51.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.00.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 85.70% and a net margin of 10.51%. On average, research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Equitable's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.13%.

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.