Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. 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 report on Thursday, July 18th. Stephens upgraded shares of Equity Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.25.

Equity Bancshares Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $39.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market cap of $675.40 million, a P/E ratio of 73.80 and a beta of 0.89.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $55.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.56 million. Equity Bancshares had a net margin of 3.75% and a return on equity of 12.43%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equity Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. This is a boost from Equity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Equity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Insider Activity at Equity Bancshares

In other Equity Bancshares news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 24,801 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,616 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,161,674.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Leon Borck bought 1,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $38.77 per share, with a total value of $56,875.59. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 11,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $462,952.57. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 24,801 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.64, for a total value of $1,007,912.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 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 90 days. 8.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EQBK. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Equity Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $322,000. Denali Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Equity Bancshares by 112.5% during the 1st quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 13,600 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $467,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of Equity Bancshares by 97.0% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,190 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 3,541 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Equity Bancshares by 8.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 75,240 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,586,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC bought a new stake in Equity Bancshares in the first quarter worth approximately $364,000. 71.80% of the stock is owned by 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.