Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) Upgraded to "Overweight" by Stephens

Stephens upgraded shares of Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK - Free Report) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $46.00 target price on the bank's stock.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $39.25.

Equity Bancshares Trading Up 0.8 %

EQBK traded up $0.32 during trading on Monday, hitting $41.75. 49,652 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 47,584. Equity Bancshares has a 1 year low of $22.78 and a 1 year high of $42.64. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $39.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.45. The firm has a market cap of $636.81 million, a P/E ratio of 69.58 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK - Get Free Report) last released 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 company 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Equity Bancshares will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This is a positive change from Equity Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Equity Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 24,801 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,616 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,161,674.24. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Equity Bancshares news, Director Leon Borck acquired 1,467 shares of Equity Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $38.77 per share, for a total transaction of $56,875.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $462,952.57. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 24,801 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 33,101 shares of company stock worth $1,351,925. Insiders own 8.00% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Foundry Partners LLC boosted its stake in Equity Bancshares by 890.4% during the 2nd quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 104,985 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,695,000 after purchasing an additional 94,385 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Equity Bancshares by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 754,069 shares of the bank's stock worth $25,917,000 after buying an additional 10,868 shares during the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp grew its position 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 worth $12,320,000 after buying an additional 336,742 shares during the last quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC raised its position in shares of Equity Bancshares by 3.1% during the second quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 13,673 shares of the bank's stock worth $481,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 112.5% during the 1st quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 13,600 shares of the bank's stock worth $467,000 after buying an additional 7,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.