Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) Director Randee R. Koger Purchases 500 Shares

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) Director Randee R. Koger bought 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $44.50 per share, with a total value of $22,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 61,101 shares in the company, valued at $2,718,994.50. The trade was a 0.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Equity Bancshares Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ EQBK traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $48.12. The stock had a trading volume of 85,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 48,371. The firm has a market cap of $735.75 million, a P/E ratio of 11.65 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $44.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.58. Equity Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.28 and a 1 year high of $50.85.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 6.36% and a return on equity of 13.53%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Equity Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.15 dividend. This is a positive change from Equity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Equity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.55%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EQBK. Foundry Partners LLC boosted its position in Equity Bancshares by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 119,525 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,886,000 after acquiring an additional 14,540 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Equity Bancshares by 1.5% in the 1st 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 period. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 336,742 shares in the last quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC lifted its position in Equity Bancshares by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 13,673 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 74.1% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,052 shares of the bank’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 2,150 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Bancshares from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Equity Bancshares from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Stephens upgraded shares of Equity Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $46.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th.

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.