Morgan Stanley Raises Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Price Target to $41.00

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its target price increased by Morgan Stanley from $39.00 to $41.00 in a research note released on Monday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on EQH. UBS Group lifted their target price on Equitable from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Equitable from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Equitable from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and lifted their target price for the company from $35.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Equitable from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Equitable from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $39.67.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of EQH stock opened at $36.24 on Monday. Equitable has a 52-week low of $21.89 and a 52-week high of $38.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.72 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $35.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.20.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.50 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Equitable will post 6.01 EPS for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 26th were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. Equitable’s payout ratio is 26.04%.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total value of $1,087,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 685,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,825,306. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 685,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,825,306. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nick Lane sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.02, for a total value of $680,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 144,132 shares in the company, valued at $4,903,370.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 241,907 shares of company stock valued at $8,338,649. Corporate insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Equitable by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 88,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,949,000 after buying an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. American International Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 9.3% in the second quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 4,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 3.7% in the second quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 10,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 71,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,397,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 3.5% in the second quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the period. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equitable Company 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.