Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Shares of Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $42.70 and last traded at $42.70, with a volume of 1603 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $42.09.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQBK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Equity Bancshares from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Stephens raised Equity Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity Bancshares has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.25.

Equity Bancshares Trading Up 3.8 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $666.40 million, a PE ratio of 69.58 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.45.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $55.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.56 million. Equity Bancshares had a return on equity of 12.43% and a net margin of 3.75%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Equity Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. This is an increase from Equity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Equity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

Insider Activity

In other Equity Bancshares news, Director Gregory L. Gaeddert sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.99, for a total transaction of $245,940.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $703,675.33. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 24,801 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.64, for a total value of $1,007,912.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,616 shares in the company, valued at $6,161,674.24. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregory L. Gaeddert sold 6,000 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 17,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $703,675.33. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,101 shares of company stock valued at $1,351,925 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQBK. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equity Bancshares during the first quarter valued at approximately $42,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Equity Bancshares by 74.1% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,052 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 2,150 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 97.0% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,190 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $247,000 after acquiring an additional 3,541 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Equity Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth $322,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Equity Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth $322,000. 71.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.