Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Here’s Why

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) saw unusually-high trading volume on Friday . 60,427 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 23% from the previous session’s volume of 49,086 shares.The stock last traded at $42.18 and had previously closed at $42.36.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQBK has been the topic of several research reports. Stephens raised 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. DA Davidson boosted 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Equity Bancshares from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Equity Bancshares Price Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $45.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.50. The company has a market capitalization of $651.35 million, a P/E ratio of 38.73 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.32. Equity Bancshares had a net margin of 6.36% and a return on equity of 13.53%. The firm had revenue of $55.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.77 million. Analysts anticipate that Equity Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Equity Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 54.55%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 336,742 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 8,103 shares in the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Bancshares by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 119,525 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,886,000 after acquiring an additional 14,540 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Bancshares by 175.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 112,292 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,590,000 after acquiring an additional 71,547 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning grew its position in Equity Bancshares by 4.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 80,133 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,276,000 after acquiring an additional 3,399 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.