Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Price Target Raised to $61.00 at Morgan Stanley

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) had its target price boosted by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $60.00 to $61.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 13.40% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on EQH. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Equitable in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Equitable from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Equitable from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.92.

Equitable Stock Up 0.1 %

EQH opened at $53.79 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.07. Equitable has a twelve month low of $32.96 and a twelve month high of $54.82. The firm has a market cap of $16.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.08 and a beta of 1.39.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.08). Equitable had a return on equity of 85.70% and a net margin of 10.51%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Equitable will post 7.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.31, for a total value of $315,368.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 98,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,677,776.25. This represents a 6.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 629,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,536,349.35. This trade represents a 4.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 125,032 shares of company stock valued at $6,165,071 in the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Equitable by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 19,032,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $897,752,000 after purchasing an additional 79,999 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Equitable during the 4th quarter worth approximately $668,250,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in Equitable by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,976,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $545,418,000 after purchasing an additional 338,205 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 3,303,449 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Equitable by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,089,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,560,000 after purchasing an additional 355,078 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.