Invesco Ltd. Increases Stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,089,046 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 355,078 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned about 2.58% of Equitable worth $381,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Equitable during the fourth quarter worth $668,250,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Equitable by 59.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,817,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $415,899,000 after acquiring an additional 3,303,449 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in shares of Equitable by 56.3% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,659,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,351,000 after acquiring an additional 957,828 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Equitable by 20.7% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,554,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,529,000 after purchasing an additional 437,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Equitable by 700.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,563,172 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,367,837 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Equitable Stock Up 12.7 %

Shares of EQH opened at $49.58 on Thursday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.49 and a 52-week high of $56.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.88. The company has a market capitalization of $15.21 billion, a PE ratio of 12.98 and a beta of 1.23.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.08). Equitable had a return on equity of 85.70% and a net margin of 10.51%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. Equitable’s payout ratio is 25.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on EQH. Barclays raised their price objective on Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group raised shares of Equitable from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $49.00 to $77.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Equitable from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total value of $1,549,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 629,939 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,536,349.35. This trade represents a 4.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.12, for a total value of $255,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 139,073 shares in the company, valued at $7,109,411.76. This trade represents a 3.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 103,332 shares of company stock valued at $5,364,610 over the last quarter. 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.