EQ Advisors Trust^SM

1290 VT GAMCO Small Company Value Portfolio – Class IA and IB Shares

(formerly EQ/GAMCO Small Company Value Portfolio)

Summary Prospectus dated May 1, 2017

Before you invest, you may want to review the Portfolio’s Prospectus, which contains more information about the Portfolio and its risks. The Portfolio’s current Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), dated May 1, 2017, as may be amended or supplemented from time to time, and the Portfolio’s audited financial statements included in its annual report to shareholders dated December 31, 2016, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus. You can find the Portfolio’s Prospectus, SAI and other information about the Portfolio online at www.axa-equitablefunds.com/allportfolios.aspx. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-877-222-2144 or by sending an e-mail request to service@axa.us.com. This Summary Prospectus is intended for use in connection with a variable contract as defined in Section 817(d) of the Internal Revenue Code (“Contracts”) and certain other eligible investors and is not intended for use by other investors.

Investment Objective: Seeks to maximize capital appreciation.

FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE PORTFOLIO

The following table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Portfolio. The table below does not reflect any fees and expenses associated with variable life insurance contracts and variable annuity certificates and contracts (“Contracts”), which would increase overall fees and expenses. See the Contract prospectus for a description of those fees and expenses.

Shareholder Fees

(fees paid directly from your investment)

Not applicable.

Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
1290 VT GAMCO Small Company Value Portfolio	Class IA Shares		Class IB Shares
Management Fee		0.71%		0.71%
Distribution and/or Service Fees (12b-1 fees)		0.25%		0.25%
Other Expenses		0.12%		0.12%
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses		1.08%		1.08%

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other portfolios. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of these periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. This Example does not reflect any Contract-related fees and expenses including redemption fees (if any) at the Contract level. If such fees and expenses were reflected, the total expenses would be higher. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

	1 Year		3 Years		5 Years		10 Years
Class IA Shares	$	110	$	343	$	595	$	1,317
Class IB Shares	$	110	$	343	$	595	$	1,317

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

The Portfolio pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio’s portfolio turnover rate was 5% of the average value of the Portfolio.

INVESTMENTS, RISKS, AND PERFORMANCE

Principal Investment Strategy: Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio intends to invest at least 80% of its net assets, plus borrowings for investment purposes, in stocks of small capitalization companies. For this Portfolio, small capitalization companies are companies with market capitalizations of $2.0 billion or less at the time of investment.

The Portfolio intends to invest primarily in common stocks, but it may also invest in other securities that the Sub-Adviser believes provide opportunities for capital growth, such as preferred stocks and warrants. This Portfolio also may invest in foreign securities.

The Sub-Adviser utilizes a value-oriented investment style that emphasizes companies deemed to be currently underpriced according to certain financial measurements, which may include price-to-earnings and price-to-book ratios. In choosing investments, the Sub-Adviser utilizes a process of fundamental analysis that involves researching and evaluating individual companies for potential investment by the Portfolio. The Sub-Adviser uses a proprietary research technique to determine which stocks have a market price that is less than the “private market value” or what an investor would pay for the company. This approach will often lead the Portfolio to focus on “strong companies” in out-of-favor sectors or out-of-favor companies exhibiting a catalyst for change. The Sub-Adviser may sell a security for a variety of reasons, such as because it becomes overvalued or shows deteriorating fundamentals.

The Portfolio also may lend its portfolio securities to earn additional income.

Principal Risks: An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. You may lose money by investing in the Portfolio. Performance may be affected by one or more of the following risks.

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Equity Risk: In general, stocks and other equity security values fluctuate, and sometimes widely fluctuate, in response to changes in a company’s financial condition as well as general market, economic and political conditions and other factors.

Foreign Securities Risk: Investments in foreign securities, including depositary receipts, involve risks not associated with investing in U.S. securities. Foreign markets, particularly emerging markets, may be less liquid, more volatile and subject to less government supervision than U.S. markets. Security values also may be negatively affected by changes in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies. Differences between U.S. and foreign legal, political and economic systems, regulatory regimes and market practices also may impact security values and it may take more time to clear and settle trades involving foreign securities.

Currency Risk: Investments in foreign currencies and in securities that trade in, or receive revenues in, or in derivatives that provide exposure to foreign currencies are subject to the risk that those currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar, or, in the case of hedging positions, that the U.S. dollar will decline in value relative to the currency being hedged. Any such decline may erode or reverse any potential gains from an investment in securities denominated in foreign currency or may widen existing loss. Currency rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time for a number of reasons, including changes in interest rates, intervention (or the failure to intervene) by governments, central banks or supranational entities, or by the imposition of currency controls or other political developments in the U.S. or abroad.

Investment Style Risk: The Portfolio may use a particular style or set of styles — in this case “value” styles — to select investments. Those styles may be out of favor or may not produce the best results over short or longer time periods. Value stocks are subject to the risks that notwithstanding that a stock is selling at a discount to its perceived true worth, the market will never fully recognize its intrinsic value. In addition, there is the risk that a stock judged to be undervalued may actually be appropriately priced.

Sector Risk: From time to time, based on market or economic conditions, the Portfolio may have significant positions in one or more sectors of the market. To the extent the Portfolio invests more heavily in particular sectors, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors. Individual sectors may be more volatile, and may perform differently, than the broader market. The industries that constitute a sector may all react in the same way to economic, political or regulatory events.

Securities Lending Risk: The Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to seek income. There is a risk that a borrower may default on its obligations to return loaned securities, however, the Portfolio’s securities lending agent may indemnify the Portfolio against that risk. The Portfolio will be responsible for the risks associated with the investment of cash collateral, including any collateral invested in an affiliated money market fund. The Portfolio may lose money on its investment of cash collateral or may fail to earn sufficient income on its investment to meet obligations to the borrower. In addition, delays may occur in the recovery of securities from borrowers, which could interfere with the Portfolio’s ability to vote proxies or to settle transactions.

Small-Cap Company Risk: The Portfolio’s investments in small-cap companies may involve greater risks than investments in larger, more established issuers because they generally are more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments. Such companies generally have narrower product lines, more limited financial and management resources and more limited markets for their stock as compared with larger companies. They may depend on a more limited management group than larger capitalized companies. In addition, it is more difficult to get information on smaller companies, which tend to be less well known, have shorter operating histories, do not have significant ownership by large investors and are followed by relatively few securities analysts. As a result, the value of such securities may be more volatile than the securities of larger companies, and because the securities generally trade in lower volumes than larger cap securities, the Portfolio may experience difficulty in purchasing or selling such securities at the desired time and price or in the desired amount.

Risk/Return Bar Chart and Table

The bar chart and table below provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio by showing changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Portfolio’s average annual total returns for the past one, five and ten years (or since inception) through December 31, 2016 compared to the returns of a broad-based securities market index. The return of the broad-based securities market index (and any additional comparative index) shown in the right hand column below is the return of the index for the last 10 years or, if shorter, since the inception of the share class with the longest history. Past performance is not an indication of future performance.

For periods prior to the inception date for Class IA shares (July 13, 2007), Class IA share performance information shown in the table below is the performance of Class IB shares, which reflects the effect of 12b-1 fees paid by Class IB shares. Class IA shares did not pay 12b-1 fees prior to January 1, 2012.

The performance results do not reflect any Contract-related fees and expenses, which would reduce the performance results.

Calendar Year Annual Total Returns — Class IB

Best quarter (% and time period)	Worst quarter (% and time period)
24.68% (2009 2nd Quarter)	–21.47% (2008 4th Quarter)

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Average Annual Total Returns
	One Year		Five Years		Ten Years/Since Inception
1290 VT GAMCO Small Company Value Portfolio – Class IA Shares		23.27%		14.46%		10.55%
1290 VT GAMCO Small Company Value Portfolio – Class IB Shares		23.28%		14.46%		10.43%
Russell 2000® Value Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		31.74%		15.07%		6.26%

WHO MANAGES THE PORTFOLIO

Investment Adviser: FMG LLC

Portfolio Managers: The members of the team that are jointly and primarily responsible for the selection, monitoring and oversight of the Portfolio’s Sub-Adviser are:

Name	Title	Date Began Managing the Portfolio
Kenneth T. Kozlowski, CFP®, CLU, ChFC	Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of FMG LLC	May 2011
Alwi Chan, CFA®	Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Investment Officer of FMG LLC	May 2009

Sub-Adviser: GAMCO Asset Management, Inc. (“GAMCO”)

Portfolio Manager: The individual primarily responsible for the securities selection, research and trading for the Portfolio is:

Name	Title	Date Began Managing the Portfolio
Mario J. Gabelli	Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of the Value Portfolios of GAMCO	June 1996

AXA Equitable Funds Management Group, LLC (“FMG LLC” or the “Adviser”) has been granted relief by the Securities and Exchange Commission to hire, terminate and replace Sub-Advisers and amend sub-advisory agreements subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees and without obtaining shareholder approval. However, the Adviser may not enter into a sub-advisory agreement on behalf of the Portfolio with an “affiliated person” of the Adviser, such as AllianceBernstein L.P., unless the sub-advisory agreement is approved by the Portfolio’s shareholders. The Adviser is responsible for overseeing Sub-Advisers and recommending their hiring, termination and replacement to the Board of Trustees.

PURCHASE AND REDEMPTION OF PORTFOLIO SHARES

The Portfolio’s shares are currently sold only to insurance company separate accounts in connection with Contracts issued by AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company (“AXA Equitable”), AXA Life and Annuity Company, or other affiliated or unaffiliated insurance companies and to The AXA Equitable 401(k) Plan. Shares also may be sold to other tax-qualified retirement plans, to other portfolios managed by FMG LLC that currently sell their shares to such accounts and plans and to other investors eligible under applicable federal income tax regulations.

The Portfolio does not have minimum initial or subsequent investment requirements. Shares of the Portfolio are redeemable on any business day (which typically is any day the New York Stock Exchange is open) upon receipt of a request. All redemption requests will be processed and payment with respect thereto will normally be made within seven days after tender. Please refer to your Contract prospectus for more information on purchasing and redeeming Portfolio shares.

TAX INFORMATION

The Portfolio’s shareholders are (or may include) to insurance company separate accounts, qualified plans and other investors eligible under applicable federal income tax regulations. Accordingly, distributions the Portfolio makes of its net investment income and net realized gains — most or all of which it intends to distribute annually — and redemptions or exchanges of Portfolio shares generally will not be taxable to its shareholders (or to the holders of underlying Contracts or plan participants or beneficiaries). See the prospectus for your Contract for further tax information.

PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES

This Portfolio is not sold directly to the general public but instead is offered as an underlying investment option for Contracts and retirement plans and to other eligible investors. The Portfolio and the Adviser and its affiliates may make payments to a sponsoring insurance company (or its affiliates) or other financial intermediary for distribution and/or other services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the insurance company or other financial intermediary and your financial adviser to recommend the Portfolio over another investment or by influencing an insurance company to include the Portfolio as an underlying investment option in the Contract. The prospectus (or other offering document) for your Contract may contain additional information about these payments. Ask your financial adviser or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

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