Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) to Issue $0.24 Quarterly Dividend

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, November 18th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share on Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th.

Equitable has raised its dividend by an average of 9.2% per year over the last three years. Equitable has a dividend payout ratio of 13.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Equitable to earn $7.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.4%.

Equitable Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of EQH stock traded down $0.32 on Monday, hitting $47.12. The stock had a trading volume of 2,156,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,498,557. The business has a 50 day moving average of $43.97 and a 200 day moving average of $41.87. The stock has a market cap of $14.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.12 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12. Equitable has a 12-month low of $28.02 and a 12-month high of $50.51.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.53. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.78 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 2.64% and a positive return on equity of 76.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Equitable will post 6.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other Equitable news, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total transaction of $148,470.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 19,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $819,596.82. This trade represents a 15.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $1,223,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 668,555 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,263,672.90. The trade was a 4.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 100,166 shares of company stock valued at $4,286,705. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on EQH. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Equitable from $44.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Equitable from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Equitable from $41.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.70.

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.