9,506 Shares in Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) Acquired by Quadrature Capital Ltd

Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 9,506 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $322,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd owned about 0.06% of Equity Bancshares as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQBK. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp acquired a new position in Equity Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $14,694,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Equity Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at $3,061,000. Petiole USA ltd acquired a new position in shares of Equity Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at $1,945,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 754,999 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,595,000 after purchasing an additional 30,253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Equity Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at $449,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.80% of the company’s stock.

Equity Bancshares Price Performance

EQBK opened at $33.41 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $33.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.16. Equity Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.79 and a 12-month high of $34.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $509.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.68 and a beta of 0.91.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The bank reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.18. Equity Bancshares had a return on equity of 12.08% and a net margin of 3.88%. The firm had revenue of $55.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.00 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Equity Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Equity Bancshares’s payout ratio is 80.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Junetta M. Everett bought 2,903 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $34.50 per share, with a total value of $100,153.50. Following the purchase, the director now owns 9,813 shares in the company, valued at $338,548.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 8.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Equity Bancshares from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.33.

Equity Bancshares 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.