Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) Price Target Raised to $48.00

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) had its target price upped by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $43.00 to $48.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the bank’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on EQBK. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Equity Bancshares from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Stephens upgraded Equity Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $46.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th.

Equity Bancshares Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Equity Bancshares stock opened at $47.53 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $44.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.73. The stock has a market cap of $726.73 million, a PE ratio of 43.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Equity Bancshares has a 12-month low of $29.86 and a 12-month high of $50.85.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $55.35 million for 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Equity Bancshares will post 4.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Equity Bancshares

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQBK. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 754,069 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,917,000 after acquiring an additional 10,868 shares in the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 336,742 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Equity Bancshares by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 314,889 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,919,000 after acquiring an additional 8,103 shares during the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Equity Bancshares by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 119,525 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,886,000 after purchasing an additional 14,540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 175.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 112,292 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,590,000 after purchasing an additional 71,547 shares in the last quarter. 71.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.