Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Stock Position Boosted by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 94.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 90,485 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 43,837 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Equitable were worth $4,268,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 195.6% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Equitable by 61.5% during 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 period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equitable in the 3rd quarter worth $48,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 86.3% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 718 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Equitable by 298.3% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 1,265 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equitable Stock Performance

EQH stock opened at $54.26 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.92. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.76 and a 52 week high of $54.82. The stock has a market cap of $17.00 billion, a P/E ratio of -49.78 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. Equitable’s revenue was down 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -88.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on EQH shares. Barclays upped 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, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Equitable from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Equitable from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.67.

Insider Activity

In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.31, for a total value of $1,419,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 639,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,275,514.09. The trade was a 4.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.53, for a total value of $316,834.98. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 105,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,002,342.38. This represents a 5.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 161,698 shares of company stock worth $7,904,806 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.