Oak Thistle LLC Acquires Shares in Equitable Holdings
The fourth quarter of 2020 saw a new position takeover with Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) by Oak Thistle LLC. The company acquired 8,101 shares, valued at $232,000, according to its Securities and Exchange Commission filing. This move comes as Equitable continues to be an attractive investment opportunity due to its steady growth during these challenging times.
Adding feather to the cap is the news of a recently-announced quarterly dividend for shareholders who held stock as of February 27th. A dividend of $0.20 per share was paid out on March 6th. At an annualized payout rate of $0.80 per share, this yields a healthy 3.13%. The dividend payout ratio stands at 18.26%, indicating that the company’s management sees profitable future prospects.
In related news, Robin M Raju – CFO of Equitable Holdings – bought a total of 2,096 shares in the company’s stock at an average price tag of $23.78 per share for a combined value of $49,842.88 on March 15th this year. This brings his direct holdings up to 96,226 shares worth more than $2 million.
Meanwhile, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold around 8100 SHARES bringing down its overall portfolio value by approximately $205,578 touting insider trades intensified among top officials ahead of looming quarterly earnings release early next month.
With these developments in place coupled with robust financial conditions and promising market insights, investing in Equitable Holdings presents itself as a lucrative option for investors who seek to maximize their returns over time through dividends and capital appreciation alike amidst these extraordinary times.
Date: Made-Wednesday May12th
Equitable Holdings Faces Changes in Hedge Fund Positions Amidst Lower Earnings
Equitable Holdings Reveals Changes in Hedge Fund Positions
Equitable Holdings, Inc., a leading financial services provider, has recently undergone some significant changes in its hedge fund positions. Most notable is AXA S.A.’s acquisition of a new position in shares of Equitable worth $3,491,000 in the third quarter of last year. Other major hedge funds that have made changes to their positions in the company include Neuberger Berman Group LLC, Signaturefd LLC, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC and TKG Advisors LLC.
Neuberger Berman Group LLC leads among these with 24.3% increase during third quarter which give the group ownership of 3,917,357 shares valued at $103,222,000 after buying an additional 766,449 shares during that period. Signaturefd LLC also increased its holdings by 8.4% during the fourth quarter and now holds 14,002 shares worth $402,000 after acquiring another 1,085 shares while Eversource Wealth Advisor acquired another 710 more shares during the same period bringing their total shareholding to 1,588 for $43k.
The institutional investors and hedge funds combined already own up to 93.17% of Equitable Holdings’ stocks.
Despite these developments though Equitable Holdings has not performed well financially as it posted lower earnings data from last year’s fourth quarter compared to what was expected by analysts with EPS falling short of consensus estimates by ($0.18), posting an EPS of $1.11 rather than the expected $1.29.
This led to a reduction in price targets for the company by several analysts like Royal Bank of Canada which lowered it to $28.00 while TheStreet downgraded EQH stock from “b” rating to “c+”. Barclays did however give overseight ratings alongside reducing price target from $34 down to current levels at $30.
Equitable Holdings, Inc. is currently trading at $25.60 with its 52-week range pricing it between $22.58 to $33.24 making for a market capitalization of around $9.19 billion as well as a PE ratio of 5.84 and beta of 1.40 based off the recent data available.
Equitable Holdings, Inc paid out dividends of $0.20 per share on Monday, March 6th making for an annualized dividend payout of around $0.80 with respect to equity’s current price while the DPR stands at around 18.26%.
In all, Equitable Holdings’ hedge fund positions are stressed as low earnings reports continue referencing cost cuts enacted by the company amidst challenging financial conditions which could persist despite hedge funds release significant portions of their equity ownership thereof in Equitable Holdings despite some highlighting EPS forecasts promising a moderate buy consensus given the stock’s current pricing level so far this year based on Bloomberg.com sourced data while analysts predict that earnings per share (eps) projection for EQH will come up at about 5.5% for fiscal 2021 year end, though this remains to be seen over time whether these projections hold true.
