Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 33,526 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

Franklin Resources Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 4.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 738,437 shares of the company’s stock after selling 33,526 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Equitable were worth $32,491,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Equitable by 24,432.7% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,168,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,444,000 after purchasing an additional 3,155,487 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in shares of Equitable in the 2nd quarter valued at $110,176,000. Samlyn Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equitable during the second quarter worth $63,334,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equitable by 57.8% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,969,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,470,000 after acquiring an additional 721,028 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Equitable by 1,095.9% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 600,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,543,000 after acquiring an additional 550,436 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Equitable

In other Equitable news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.31, for a total value of $315,368.46. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 98,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,776.25. The trade was a 6.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total transaction of $1,332,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 658,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,239,842. This represents a 4.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 103,332 shares of company stock valued at $4,806,403. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Equitable Stock Performance

EQH stock opened at $44.36 on Thursday. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.76 and a 1-year high of $50.51. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $46.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.99. The firm has a market cap of $13.90 billion, a PE ratio of -40.70 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.53. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.78 billion. Equitable had a positive return on equity of 76.47% and a negative net margin of 2.64%. Equitable’s quarterly revenue was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Equitable’s payout ratio is -88.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on EQH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Equitable from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $54.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays increased their price target on Equitable from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Equitable from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.10.

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.