Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $48.61 and last traded at $48.23, with a volume of 5390 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $48.04.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Equity Bancshares from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Stephens upgraded shares of Equity Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $46.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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.

Equity Bancshares Stock Up 0.7 %

The stock has a market cap of $723.48 million, a PE ratio of 43.10 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.32. Equity Bancshares had a net margin of 6.36% and a return on equity of 13.53%. The company had revenue of $55.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.77 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Equity Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in 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. Foundry Partners LLC bought a new stake in Equity Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at $364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Equity Bancshares by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 754,069 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,917,000 after purchasing an additional 10,868 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equity Bancshares in the first quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 79,831 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,810,000 after buying an additional 3,838 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.80% of the company’s stock.

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.