Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) CEO Brad S. Elliott Sells 2,300 Shares of Stock

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 2,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.64, for a total transaction of $98,072.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,480,384.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Equity Bancshares Stock Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ:EQBK opened at $41.73 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $636.51 million, a P/E ratio of 69.55 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $39.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.52. Equity Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.78 and a 1-year high of $42.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $55.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.56 million. Equity Bancshares had a return on equity of 12.43% and a net margin of 3.75%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Equity Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost from Equity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. Equity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on EQBK shares. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Equity Bancshares from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Equity Bancshares from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Bancshares from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.00.

Institutional Trading of Equity Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp lifted its position in shares of Equity Bancshares by 2,539.9% during the 2nd quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 350,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,320,000 after buying an additional 336,742 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Equity Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth $322,000. ELCO Management Co. LLC raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 415 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 35.2% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 41,585 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,464,000 after purchasing an additional 10,824 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Equity Bancshares by 1.7% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 19,240 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $677,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the period. 71.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.