Pearson Mark 4

What Happened
Mark Pearson, President & CEO and a director of Equitable Holdings (EQH), exercised stock options to acquire 27,200 shares (exercise price $23.18/share; cost $630,496) on May 18, 2026. The filing also shows a disposition of 27,200 shares at $0 (consistent with shares withheld to cover taxes on the exercise). Separately, he sold 39,700 shares in an open-market transaction on the same date for a weighted average price of $42.60, netting $1,691,236. The sales were executed pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Key Details

• Transaction date: May 18, 2026.
• Option exercise: 27,200 shares acquired at $23.18/share (total $630,496).
• Tax/withholding disposition: 27,200 shares disposed at $0 (reported as derivative disposition).
• Open-market sale: 39,700 shares sold at a weighted average $42.60/share (total $1,691,236); individual sale prices ranged $42.23–$43.00 per the filing.
• Plan/authorization: Sales and option exercises were effected under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted May 16, 2025 (Footnote F1).
• Holdings after transaction: Not specified in the provided summary; filing notes holdings include Restricted Stock Units and 11,011 shares from the Employee Stock Purchase Plan (Footnote F2).
• Grant/vesting note: Options related to a 2019 Omnibus Incentive Plan; vested in installments beginning Feb 26, 2021 (Footnote F4).
• Filing timeliness: Report filed May 20, 2026 for May 18 transactions — appears timely (no late filing flag reported).

Context

• The paired entries (exercise at $23.18 and a simultaneous $0 disposition of the same 27,200 shares) typically reflect an option exercise with shares withheld to satisfy tax withholding obligations (i.e., a net/cashless component), while other shares were sold on the open market.
• The open-market sales were conducted under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, which is commonly used to execute routine sales and does not, by itself, indicate the insider’s view of the company.
• For retail investors: purchases (which can signal conviction) are generally more informative than planned sales; this filing shows a routine exercise and planned sales rather than a new, unscheduled purchase.