DA Davidson Has Bearish Forecast for EQBK FY2025 Earnings

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK - Free Report) - Equities researchers at DA Davidson lowered their FY2025 EPS estimates for Equity Bancshares in a research note issued to investors on Monday, December 9th. DA Davidson analyst J. Rulis now expects that the bank will earn $3.80 per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of $4.15. DA Davidson has a "Neutral" rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Equity Bancshares' current full-year earnings is $4.27 per share.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on EQBK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Equity Bancshares from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company 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 on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th.

Equity Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of EQBK stock remained flat at $47.67 during trading hours on Wednesday. 69,239 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 48,462. Equity Bancshares has a 12-month low of $30.44 and a 12-month high of $50.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $44.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.00. 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 stock has a market cap of $728.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.38 and a beta of 0.90.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $55.35 million for 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%.

Institutional Trading of Equity Bancshares

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 7.8% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,213 shares of the bank's stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Equity Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $203,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Equity Bancshares by 74.1% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,052 shares of the bank's stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 2,150 shares during the last quarter. Triune Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Equity Bancshares during the third quarter valued at approximately $268,000. Finally, PDT Partners LLC bought a new stake in Equity Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth about $282,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.80% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This is a positive change from Equity Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Equity Bancshares's payout ratio is currently 54.55%.

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.