Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Holdings in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,117,568 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 148,180 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.68% of Equitable worth $89,001,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Equitable by 61.5% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 646 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Equitable by 5.1% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,852 shares of the company's stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its position in Equitable by 3.6% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 13,541 shares of the company's stock worth $569,000 after acquiring an additional 476 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Equitable by 11.6% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 4,615 shares of the company's stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association increased its stake in Equitable by 2.3% during the second quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 23,499 shares of the company's stock worth $960,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total transaction of $1,332,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 658,555 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,239,842. This represents a 4.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 141,629 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,492,273.36. The trade was a 15.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 128,332 shares of company stock worth $5,952,403. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Equitable Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of EQH stock traded up $1.54 during trading on Friday, reaching $46.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,130,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,517,027. The company has a market capitalization of $14.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -42.68 and a beta of 1.39. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.76 and a 1-year high of $50.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $46.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.07.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates 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 company earned $1.15 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 6.05 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Equitable's dividend payout ratio 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.