DA Davidson Lowers Earnings Estimates for Equity Bancshares

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK - Free Report) - Equities researchers at DA Davidson cut their Q4 2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Equity Bancshares in a report released on Monday, December 9th. DA Davidson analyst J. Rulis now anticipates that the bank will post earnings of $0.90 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.93. DA Davidson currently has a "Neutral" rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Equity Bancshares' current full-year earnings is $4.27 per share.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $55.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.77 million. Equity Bancshares had a return on equity of 13.53% and a net margin of 6.36%.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on EQBK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Equity Bancshares from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens raised shares of 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.

Equity Bancshares Trading Up 0.9 %

EQBK stock traded up $0.41 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $47.67. The stock had a trading volume of 61,611 shares, compared to its average volume of 48,375. The firm has a market cap of $728.87 million, a PE ratio of 42.96 and a beta of 0.90. 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 has a 12-month low of $30.44 and a 12-month high of $50.85. The company's 50-day moving average price is $44.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.90.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is a boost 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 payout ratio is currently 54.55%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 2,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.64, for a total transaction of $98,072.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,979 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,480,384.56. This represents a 1.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Leon Borck purchased 1,467 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,941 shares in the company, valued at $462,952.57. This trade represents a 14.01 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 8.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Equity Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp lifted its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 2,539.9% in the 2nd quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 350,000 shares of the bank's stock worth $12,320,000 after buying an additional 336,742 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 314,889 shares of the bank's stock worth $12,919,000 after buying an additional 8,103 shares in the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 14,540 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 175.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 112,292 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,590,000 after buying an additional 71,547 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning lifted its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 80,133 shares of the bank's stock worth $3,276,000 after buying an additional 3,399 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.