TCW Group Inc. Buys 14,480 Shares of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH)

TCW Group Inc. increased its stake in Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 146,940 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 14,480 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Equitable were worth $6,931,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of Equitable by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 643,633 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,360,000 after acquiring an additional 23,134 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Equitable in the 4th quarter worth about $1,420,000. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in Equitable by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 9,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Equitable by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 13,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $627,000 after buying an additional 1,534 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,554,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,529,000 after buying an additional 437,322 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equitable news, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.84, for a total value of $1,146,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 141,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,492,273.36. The trade was a 15.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey J. Hurd sold 6,666 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total value of $369,163.08. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 104,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,776,023.24. This represents a 6.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 131,698 shares of company stock worth $6,534,234. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQH has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Equitable from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $53.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.58.

Equitable Price Performance

NYSE EQH opened at $51.44 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $16.12 billion, a PE ratio of 13.46 and a beta of 1.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $50.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.38. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.96 and a 52-week high of $56.00.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.08). Equitable had a net margin of 10.51% and a return on equity of 85.70%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. Equitable’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.13%.

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.