Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Given New $51.00 Price Target at Jefferies Financial Group

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its price target upped by Jefferies Financial Group from $46.00 to $51.00 in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on EQH. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Equitable from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Equitable from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. UBS Group cut Equitable from a buy rating to a neutral rating and increased their price target for the company from $40.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Equitable from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Equitable from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $41.00.

Equitable Stock Down 0.1 %

Equitable stock opened at $40.82 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.64 and a beta of 1.41. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $39.98 and its 200 day moving average is $36.42. Equitable has a twelve month low of $24.65 and a twelve month high of $41.95.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.59 billion. The business’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Equitable will post 6.12 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. This is a positive change from Equitable’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is 29.72%.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other Equitable news, insider Seth P. Bernstein sold 152,473 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.06, for a total value of $5,803,122.38. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 88,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,374,399.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total transaction of $1,087,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 685,025 shares in the company, valued at $24,825,306. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Seth P. Bernstein sold 152,473 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.06, for a total value of $5,803,122.38. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 88,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,374,399.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 202,411 shares of company stock worth $7,646,571 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Equitable by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,012,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,265,815,000 after purchasing an additional 446,752 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,425,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,573,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Equitable during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,977,000. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 1,739.8% in the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 153,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,105,000 after acquiring an additional 144,981 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

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.