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

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,117,568 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 148,180 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.68% of Equitable worth $89,001,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Covestor Ltd increased its position in Equitable by 61.5% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 646 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 892.9% during the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Equitable during the 3rd quarter worth about $48,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Equitable by 86.3% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Equitable by 623.5% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 2,039 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other news, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 141,629 shares in the company, valued at $6,492,273.36. This trade represents a 15.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were 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 owns 658,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,239,842. This trade represents a 4.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 128,332 shares of company stock valued at $5,952,403 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Equitable Stock Performance

Equitable stock opened at $46.52 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -42.68 and a beta of 1.39. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.76 and a 12 month 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 is $46.71 and its 200-day moving average is $43.05.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53. Equitable had a negative net margin of 2.64% and a positive return on equity of 76.47%. The firm 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 earnings per share. Equitable’s revenue was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio is currently -88.07%.

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.