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

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 13th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share on Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th.

Equitable has increased its dividend by an average of 9.8% per year over the last three years. Equitable has a payout ratio of 11.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Equitable to earn $8.38 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 11.5%.

Equitable Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE EQH opened at $55.36 on Friday. Equitable has a 12-month low of $32.96 and a 12-month high of $55.78. The company has a market cap of $17.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.49 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.79.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 expect that Equitable will post 7.24 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equitable news, insider Nick Lane sold 25,000 shares of Equitable stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.84, for a total transaction of $1,146,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 141,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,492,273.36. The trade was a 15.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO William James Iv Eckert sold 1,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.68, for a total transaction of $79,356.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $825,162.36. This trade represents a 8.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 125,032 shares of company stock worth $6,165,071. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Truist Financial raised their target price on Equitable from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Equitable from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Equitable from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Equitable from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Equitable from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned 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 $55.92.

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.