Vontobel Holding Ltd. Purchases New Position in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 10,584 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $499,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EQH. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 195.6% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 532 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 646 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 298.3% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,689 shares of the company's stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 1,265 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 26.1% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,954 shares of the company's stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $124,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total transaction of $369,163.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 104,298 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,776,023.24. The trade was a 6.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.84, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 15.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 131,698 shares of company stock worth $6,534,234. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EQH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $53.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equitable from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equitable currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $56.58.

Equitable Stock Down 4.7 %

EQH stock traded down $2.53 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $51.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,632,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,850,821. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.96 and a 52-week high of $56.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.46 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.15.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.08). Equitable had a net margin of 10.51% and a return on equity of 85.70%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Equitable's payout ratio is currently 25.13%.

Equitable 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.