Pearson Mark 4

What Happened

Mark Pearson, President & CEO of Equitable Holdings (EQH), exercised 27,200 stock options (cost $23.18/share; total $630,496) on 2026-07-20 and sold shares in open-market transactions the same day. The reported sales were 39,564 shares at a weighted average price of $48.54 (proceeds $1,920,282) and 136 shares at a weighted average $49.19 (proceeds $6,690), for total sale proceeds of about $1.93 million. The filing also reports a derivative conversion of 27,200 shares (listed at $0), reflecting the option exercise/conversion.

Key Details

• Transaction date: 2026-07-20; Form 4 filed 2026-07-21 (timely).
• Option exercise: 27,200 shares @ $23.18 = $630,496 (derivative conversion also reported).
• Open-market sales: 39,564 shares @ $48.54 (weighted avg; prices ranged $48.14–$49.1399) = $1,920,282 (F3); and 136 shares @ $49.19 (weighted avg; prices ranged $49.14–$49.19) = $6,690 (F4).
• Total reported sale proceeds ≈ $1,926,972.
• Trades were executed under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted May 16, 2025 (F1).
• Options granted under the issuer’s 2019 Omnibus Incentive Plan; vested in installments beginning Feb 26, 2021 (F5).
• Holdings after the transactions are not shown in the extract provided; footnote F2 notes holdings include RSUs and 11,011 ESPP shares.

Context

• This was an exercise of vested options followed by open‑market sales — essentially a cashless outcome where exercised shares were converted and/or sold. The $0 line for the derivative indicates conversion/exercise rather than a separate sale of a derivative instrument.
• Trades were pre-planned under a 10b5-1 plan, which is commonly used to schedule insider trades in advance and is generally viewed as routine rather than an ad hoc signal of sentiment.
• For retail investors: purchases by insiders tend to be more informative than scheduled sales; these transactions appear to be planned and routine compensation-related activity.