EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$106.56.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EQB. TD Securities cut their price objective on EQB from C$112.00 to C$109.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Cormark lowered their price objective on EQB from C$121.00 to C$111.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. CIBC boosted their target price on EQB from C$105.00 to C$113.00 in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Raymond James decreased their target price on EQB from C$110.00 to C$106.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on EQB from C$104.00 to C$106.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th.

EQB Stock Performance

EQB stock opened at C$108.03 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is C$102.47 and its 200 day moving average price is C$94.76. EQB has a 1 year low of C$71.90 and a 1 year high of C$109.26. The stock has a market capitalization of C$4.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.59.

EQB (TSE:EQB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported C$2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of C$2.93 by C$0.03. EQB had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 39.67%. The company had revenue of C$327.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$325.00 million. Sell-side analysts predict that EQB will post 12.5988235 EPS for the current year.

EQB Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. This is a positive change from EQB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. EQB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.75%.

EQB Company Profile

EQB Inc, through its subsidiary, Equitable Bank, provides personal and commercial banking services to retail and commercial customers in Canada. The company accepts term deposits and guaranteed investment certificates, high interest savings accounts, institutional deposit notes and covered bonds, as well as specialized financing solutions.