EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• EQB Inc. has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from the 10 brokerages covering the stock, with six hold ratings and four buy ratings. The average 12-month price target is C$118.22.
• Recent analyst action was mixed: TD Securities cut its target to C$132, while Desjardins, Jefferies, National Bank Financial, and BMO Capital Markets all adjusted targets, with BMO upgrading EQB to “outperform”.
• The stock traded at C$120.99, near its 52-week high of C$126.51, and EQB recently raised its quarterly dividend to C$0.59 per share, implying an annualized yield of 2.0%.

EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the ten brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$118.22.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Securities reduced their price objective on EQB from C$138.00 to C$132.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Desjardins increased their price objective on EQB from C$130.00 to C$132.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on EQB from C$97.00 to C$109.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. National Bank Financial upped their target price on EQB from C$111.00 to C$120.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised EQB from a "hold" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from C$108.00 to C$130.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th.

EQB Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of EQB stock opened at C$120.99 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of C$115.17 and a 200 day moving average price of C$105.21. The company has a market cap of C$4.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.74. EQB has a 1 year low of C$83.93 and a 1 year high of C$126.51.

EQB Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This is an increase from EQB's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. EQB's payout ratio is currently 36.06%.

EQB Company Profile

EQB Inc formerly Equitable Group Inc trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange TSX: EQB and EQB.PR.C and serves over 360000 Canadians through its wholly owned subsidiary Equitable Bank Canadas Challenger Bank. Equitable Bank has grown to become the countrys eighth largest independent Schedule I bank with a clear mandate to drive real change in Canadian banking to enrich peoples lives. At Equitable Bank we are as invested in our employees as we are in our business. Thats why we are consistently recognized as one of Canadas Top Employers a rating that comes from our 1300+ employees.

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