Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Short Interest Update

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,240,000 shares, a decline of 7.8% from the December 15th total of 4,600,000 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,450,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Equitable from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays lifted 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 company from $54.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equitable has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.65, for a total value of $364,296.90. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 92,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,039,221.85. The trade was a 6.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 161,698 shares of company stock valued at $7,904,806 over the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitable

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equitable by 86.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 435,567 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,797,000 after buying an additional 202,021 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Equitable by 81.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 102,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,183,000 after purchasing an additional 46,027 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Equitable by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,083,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,855,000 after purchasing an additional 539,904 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in Equitable by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 31,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,283,000 after buying an additional 3,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL bought a new position in shares of Equitable during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $211,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE EQH traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $51.70. 1,567,195 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,062,002. 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 has a market cap of $16.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -47.43 and a beta of 1.39. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.22. Equitable has a one year low of $31.76 and a one year high of $52.04.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.78 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 76.47% and a negative net margin of 2.64%. The firm’s revenue was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Equitable will post 6.04 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Equitable’s payout ratio is -88.07%.

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.