Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on EQBK. DA Davidson upped their price objective on 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 company has a market capitalization of $747.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.66.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $55.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.77 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Equity Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.27 EPS for the current year.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. This is an increase from Equity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Equity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.55%.

Insider Activity at Equity Bancshares

In other news, Director Leon Borck bought 1,467 shares of Equity Bancshares stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $38.77 per share, with a total value of $56,875.59. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 11,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $462,952.57. This represents a 14.01 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 2,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was 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 $6,480,384.56. The trade was 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 Trading of Equity Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Equity Bancshares by 247.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 23,308 shares of the bank’s stock worth $953,000 after purchasing an additional 16,595 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Equity Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth $2,809,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. PDT Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equity Bancshares during the third quarter valued at about $282,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 4.1% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 37,735 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,543,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481 shares in the last quarter. 71.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.