Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) Price Target Raised to $45.00 at DA Davidson

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK - Free Report) had its target price hoisted by DA Davidson from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the bank's stock.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on EQBK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Equity Bancshares from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Stephens upgraded Equity Bancshares from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $46.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Bancshares currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.00.

Equity Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ EQBK traded down $0.62 on Thursday, hitting $43.72. 60,871 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 47,770. The firm has a market cap of $666.86 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.58 and a beta of 0.89. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $39.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.57. Equity Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $22.78 and a fifty-two week high of $45.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $55.43 million for 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, research analysts expect that Equity Bancshares will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is an increase from Equity Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Equity Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction of $1,007,912.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,616 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,161,674.24. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Equity Bancshares news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 24,801 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.64, for a total transaction of $1,007,912.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 151,616 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 2,300 shares of the business'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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,979 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,480,384.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 33,101 shares of company stock worth $1,351,925. 8.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in Equity Bancshares in the first quarter valued at approximately $42,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Bancshares by 74.1% during the 3rd 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 lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 3,541 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Equity Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth $322,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Equity Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at $322,000. 71.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.