Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) by 47.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,117 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 6,481 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Equity Bancshares were worth $291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Equity Bancshares in the first quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equity Bancshares during the third quarter worth approximately $203,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 74.1% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,052 shares of the bank’s stock worth $207,000 after acquiring an additional 2,150 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 97.0% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,190 shares of the bank’s stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 3,541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Triune Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equity Bancshares during the third quarter worth approximately $268,000. 71.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Bancshares

In other Equity Bancshares news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 2,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.64, for a total value of $98,072.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,979 shares in the company, valued at $6,480,384.56. This represents a 1.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Leon Borck purchased 1,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $38.77 per share, with a total value of $56,875.59. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 11,941 shares in the company, valued at $462,952.57. This trade represents a 14.01 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on EQBK shares. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Equity Bancshares from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Stephens upgraded shares of Equity Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th.

Equity Bancshares Price Performance

EQBK opened at $47.22 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $720.72 million, a PE ratio of 42.93 and a beta of 0.89. Equity Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.92 and a 1 year high of $48.61.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.32. Equity Bancshares had a return on equity of 13.53% and a net margin of 6.36%. The business had revenue of $55.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.77 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Equity Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is an increase from Equity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Equity Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 54.55%.

About Equity Bancshares

Equity Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Equity Bank that provides a range of banking, mortgage banking, and financial services to individual and corporate customers. The company accepts various demand, savings, money market, and time deposits. Its loan products include commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, commercial lines of credit, working capital, term, equipment and aircraft financing, acquisition, expansion and development, borrowing base, real estate construction, homebuilder, agricultural, government guaranteed, and other loan products.