Equitable Holdings, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 (NYSE:EQH)

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 15th,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 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th.

Equitable has increased its dividend payment by an average of 9.2% annually over the last three years. Equitable has a dividend payout ratio of 13.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Equitable to earn $7.19 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 Up 1.8 %

Shares of Equitable stock opened at $47.62 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $44.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.13. Equitable has a fifty-two week low of $28.86 and a fifty-two week high of $50.51. The firm has a market cap of $14.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -43.69 and a beta of 1.40.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued 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 positive return on equity of 76.47% and a negative net margin of 2.64%. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Equitable will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. 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 report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays lifted their target price on Equitable from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Equitable from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equitable

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.53, for a total value of $316,834.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 105,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,002,342.38. This represents a 5.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.20, for a total transaction of $1,266,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 678,555 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,635,021. This represents a 4.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 130,166 shares of company stock worth $5,709,605. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company 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.