Zacks Investment Management Sells 5,282 Shares of Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK)

Zacks Investment Management lessened its position in shares of Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) by 25.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 15,861 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 5,282 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management’s holdings in Equity Bancshares were worth $648,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp boosted its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 2,539.9% in the second quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 350,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,320,000 after buying an additional 336,742 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 890.4% in the second quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 104,985 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,695,000 after buying an additional 94,385 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 175.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 112,292 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,590,000 after buying an additional 71,547 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Equity Bancshares in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,809,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 35.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 41,585 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,464,000 after buying an additional 10,824 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on EQBK shares. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Equity Bancshares from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Stephens upgraded Equity Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $46.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Equity Bancshares from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Transactions at Equity Bancshares

In related news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 2,300 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Leon Borck acquired 1,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $38.77 per share, with a total value of $56,875.59. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Equity Bancshares Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ EQBK opened at $47.72 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $44.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Equity Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.44 and a fifty-two week high of $50.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $729.64 million, a PE ratio of 43.38 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from Equity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Equity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 54.55%.

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.