Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the four research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $39.00.

A number of brokerages have commented on EQBK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Equity Bancshares from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Equity Bancshares from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Equity Bancshares from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Bancshares

In other Equity Bancshares news, Director Leon Borck bought 1,467 shares of Equity Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $38.77 per share, for a total transaction of $56,875.59. Following the purchase, the director now owns 11,941 shares in the company, valued at $462,952.57. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Gregory L. Gaeddert sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.99, for a total value of $245,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $703,675.33. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Leon Borck acquired 1,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $38.77 per share, for a total transaction of $56,875.59. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 11,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $462,952.57. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,101 shares of company stock worth $1,351,925 in the last 90 days. 8.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Equity Bancshares in the first quarter worth $42,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equity Bancshares by 74.1% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,052 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 2,150 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Equity Bancshares by 97.0% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,190 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 3,541 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Equity Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $322,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Equity Bancshares in the second quarter worth about $322,000. 71.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equity Bancshares Stock Up 0.1 %

EQBK opened at $39.16 on Tuesday. Equity Bancshares has a 1 year low of $22.78 and a 1 year high of $42.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $39.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $597.31 million, a PE ratio of 65.27 and a beta of 0.89.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $55.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.56 million. Equity Bancshares had a net margin of 3.75% and a return on equity of 12.43%. Sell-side analysts expect that Equity Bancshares will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. This is an increase from Equity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Equity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Equity Bancshares Company Profile

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.