Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) Reaches New 52-Week High - Should You Buy?

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK - Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as $48.77 and last traded at $48.42, with a volume of 2215 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $47.62.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EQBK. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Bancshares from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Stephens upgraded Equity Bancshares from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $46.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th.

Equity Bancshares Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $750.43 million, a P/E ratio of 44.62 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm's 50 day moving average is $43.06 and its 200 day moving average is $38.76.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.32. Equity Bancshares had a return on equity of 13.53% and a net margin of 6.36%. The firm had revenue of $55.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.77 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Equity Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from Equity Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Equity Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equity Bancshares by 247.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 23,308 shares of the bank's stock valued at $953,000 after acquiring an additional 16,595 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Equity Bancshares during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,809,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 2.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 314,889 shares of the bank's stock worth $12,919,000 after purchasing an additional 8,103 shares during the last quarter. PDT Partners LLC bought a new stake in Equity Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $282,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in Equity Bancshares by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 37,735 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,543,000 after buying an additional 1,481 shares during the last quarter. 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.